Holbein® Duo Aqua Oil Paint

Holbein DUO Aqua Oil Colors are genuine water-soluble professional oil colors, specially developed to make them identical in every respect to their traditional professional grade cousin without special modification or breaking down of the oil. In addition to their highly pigmented and archival qualities, Holbein DUO paints have a unique additive which works as a surfactant that allows the paint to dry faster than the traditional oil colours when blended with water.

While water will matte down the surface when mixed with DUO, like turpentine does to oil, the paint will have slightly reduced transparency when wet. When the water evaporates, full transparency will return to match the traditional counterpart exactly.

DUO blends and mixes naturally with traditional oil mediums, but water solubility is lost if traditional oils or mediums exceed 3% of the mixture. DUO is not classified as water-based colour, like gouache, watercolour or acrylic, but all these blend perfectly with DUO (add a few drops of water when blending with acrylic) for a variety of effects and techniques.

DUO Aqua Oil Colors are safer than traditional oils for use in the studio or classroom, and they can also be easily cleaned up with soap and water instead of solvents. While they work well with all different brush types, a stiff synthetic brush will have the best results when painting with DUO.

NOTE: 17 ″Elite″ labeled colours signify the use of heavy metal pigments including cadmiums and cobalts. 5 ″Luminous″ labeled colours should not be considered permanent, since they will degrade with exposure to ultraviolet light. Use traditional oil varnish when sealing your DUO painting.