I received this from a student who’s taking my Schoodic workshop in August: “I’m wondering how you decide which medium you want to use when you’re going to make a painting. That’s in addition to the more obvious practical considerations that might be involved in certain circumstances.”
And this (coincidentally, from another student enrolled in that same workshop): “Sometimes, I need a break from the complexity and mess of oil and take refuge in watercolor. It’s quick, clean, simple and cheap… Yes, it can be unforgiving, but that’s a good lesson to apply to oil: stop for a moment, think, proceed with a bit of caution. Watercolor forces one to let go of the ‘fix it later’ attitude that can belabor the process in oil.
“As an outgrowth of class with you, I do layout and content tests in little watercolors that then shift and scale up to oil. If done well, the watercolor can serve as my value study. I draw on the canvas and go right to paint in oil. If all goes well, I sell both the watercolor and the oil.”
A quick note on classes before we get into it
Claim your spot in Painting clouds, which starts in two weeks. There are just a few slots open.
The medium changes the way we think
The medium isn’t just a delivery system. Because it affects how we work, it also affects how we think.
Watercolor insists that we stop dithering. Pastel encourages bold mark-making. Oils invite layering and contemplation. Acrylics demand decisiveness and speed. If you were to do the same painting in every medium, each work would be different. That’s because you are concentrating on different things.
I don’t dictate what media my students work in, with few exceptions:
- Heavy-body acrylics don’t work well in extremely hot, dry settings. You need retarder or you can’t keep up.
- I love pastels for the direct hand-to-paper connection but they’re harder to frame and ship.
- Colored pencils are too time-consuming for plein air unless they’re combined with acrylics or watercolor.
Beyond that, the best medium is the one that gets you painting most often. For me, that means the thing I can grab most quickly, and that means oils and watercolors. For my student Kelly, it means gouache because it’s the easiest to use in her small apartment.
Toxicity
Sometimes, people tell me they’ve chosen acrylics or watercolors because they’re ‘less toxic.’ That’s untrue. The toxicity of paints lies in their pigments, and they’re the same in all media. The binder for oils is linseed (flax seed) oil; for acrylics, acrylic polymer emulsion; for watercolor and gouache, gum arabic (primarily), and for pastels, water-soluble gum. All but acrylics use mostly plant-based binders.
Some people are sensitive to odorless mineral spirits. There are solvent-free workarounds if they want to paint in oils.
Which is best?
Oils have the longest history (except for encaustic) and the broadest range of technique. Watercolor is portable, bright and immediate. Acrylic and gouache dry quickly and are easy to transport. None of these make any one medium superior; they simply make them suited to different purposes and personalities.
Working across media strengthens your skills
As Mark pointed out above, many artists discover that working in more than one medium strengthens all of them. Their lessons cross pollinate.
Of course, that doesn’t really answer Vivi’s question, because there’s no right answer. This morning, I’ll paint with watercolor and the rest of the week it’s almost certainly going to be oils. Beyond that, we’ll just have to see, won’t we?
Registration is now open for workshops in 2026! Reserve your spot:
- Advanced Plein Air Painting | Rockport, ME, July 13-17, 2026
- Sea & Sky | Acadia National Park, ME, August 2–7, 2026
- Find your Authentic Voice in Plein Air | Berkshires, MA, August 10-14, 2026
- New! Color Clinic 2026 | Rockport, ME, October 3-4, 2026
- New! Composition Week 2026 | Rockport, ME, October 5-9, 2026
Can’t commit to a full workshop? Work online at your own pace:
That second student at the beginning of this piece must be daft! Seriously, “…take refuge in watercolor…”
Love you, Carol!
Well, he’s daft, but not about that!
Hi Carol, the check is in the mail for clouds!