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New! Schmincke Norma Blue Finest Water-mixable Oilcolours

Date: 14-06-2023
News, Tips & Info

The new Norma Blue from Schmincke is a water-mixable, professional quality oilcolour, with something extra special to it!
Schmincke have developed significant new technologies since water-soluble oilpaint first appeared in the 1990s, incorporating these improvements into a water mixable oilcolour with the same high performance qualities as their well-loved Norma Professional Oilcolours. But Norma Blue not only satisfies in its superior water absorption, handling and pigmentation; this paint also addresses environmental concerns, allergic sensitivity, and is vegan too.

When I visited Schmincke in September 2022, their lab was making the final tweaks to Norma Blue, a production journey that they had started many years earlier with their innovative Medium W (makes traditional oilpaints water-soluble). As I played with the trial paints, they answered my many questions. I was very impressed with how many aspects of a paint like this Schmincke had thought through. By engaging with many different artists throughout the product development, Schmincke has addressed questions ranging from how a traditional oilpainter would integrate them into their practice, to mitigating the issues around the more liberal approach of an acrylic user.

 

Let’s have a look at the special considerations Schmincke have built into the new Norma Blue Finest Water-mixable Oilcolours.

 

Norma Blue has a very high capacity for water absorption. You can thin the paint out just with water, either by loading your brush with H2O, or by mixing it through your colour with a palette knife – this method ensures you’re working with the desired consistency before hitting the canvas.

How much water? You really can add a lot, especially if you want to create the effects that usually
require solvents, the drippy, dribbly, thin washes that developed in the 20th Century. Very dilute colour
is best applied on absorbent grounds, so the paint layer grips the ground properly. Schmincke Primer
1 is a half-chalk primer that offers a silky smooth, absorbent surface specially made for oilcolour
painting.


Just a note on solvents. There is a very good reason that they should be avoided in oilpainting: they
dissolve fatty acids. Both oilpaint and ourselves are made of fatty acids, and over exposure is
detrimental to both. Brushes also have a natural oil content; solvents strip this from them, shortening
their lifespan considerably. While the introduction of solvents into oilpainting didn’t take hold until the
late 19th Century, we now have a 21st Century water-soluble solution in Norma Blue!
Before we take a look at some very handy mediums that will enhance thin paint layers, we’ll check an
incredible aspect of Norma Blue that existing oilpainters will love.

Norma Blue can be combined with traditional oilcolour, such as Norma Professional, in a ratio of 4:1
and the mixture will remain water-soluble! This means you can create tints using your favourite
traditional colour plus one of the whites in Norma Blue, then thin the colour and wash your brushes
with water. You can combine Norma Blue with any traditional oilcolour at any ratio for straight painting,
though past 4:1 you lose water mixability.

It needs to be emphasised: Norma Blue is a genuine oilpaint of the highest quality. It has the same
handling and colouristic properties of Norma Professional, yet its unique formulation allows thinning
and clean-up with water. Straight from the tube, they are smooth and buttery, with strong colour
brilliance (like the Chromium Oxide Green Brilliant and Olive Green here) and clean mixing properties.
All 48 colours are highly pigmented, highly lightfast, and low in yellowing. They can be painted over
the top of touch-dry oilcolour, and vice-versa.

Not only is the pigmentation higher and light refraction greater in oilcolour over acrylic, but the slow
drying nature of oilpaint (including Norma Blue) allows a painter to produce effects that are difficult
to achieve with acrylic. All oilpainting techniques are possible with Norma Blue. These include the
translucent glazes (above left Indian Yellow over Prussian Blue) that make layering in oilpainting so rich
and full of depth, and the delicate art of scumbling to create a velatura (above right Natural Light Ochre
over Prussian Blue), a hazy layer made by dry-brushing opaque colour into a veil, often used to soften
hard edges.


Norma Blue is unabashedly modern. It offers the authentic oilpainting experience without the smell
or the mess. Norma Blue is also eco-friendly, formulated exclusively with high quality plant oils,
without cobalt, cadmium, or zinc oxides, without any solvents or preservatives. It offers a low odour,
allergy-friendly oilcolour that can be used at home and in the classroom without causing the problems
usually associated with oilpainting.

Schmincke have excelled in producing heavy metal-free versions of cadmium and cobalt colours. The
Cadmium Hue and Cobalt Hue colours were those I was most interested in trialling. Many paint ranges
offer the option of low priced “hue” alternatives to their expensive genuine articles, and as they’re
produced with cost foremost in mind, they mostly provide a poor replacement. Not so with Norma
Blue: they have created their hues to compete with the strong colouristic and opaque characteristics
of the genuine article, while avoiding the use of heavy metals.


Norma Blue’s seven Cadmium hues and two Cobalt hues achieve an incredible colour saturation and
opacity through carefully selected 21st Century pigments: precious synthetic colours like pyrrole red,
vanadium yellow, and the latest quinacridone violet. They look gorgeous, and present a truly viable
alternative to traditional heavy metal colours.

Schmincke have always retained the best traditional colours alongside their modern innovations, and
some of my favourite colours in this range are genuine earth pigments, dug from the ground in
Southern Germany. Natural earth pigments have a depth and glow that modern iron oxides can’t
match, and Schmincke have filled Norma Blue with them: Natural Green Earth (“terre verte”), Natural
Light Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber and Burnt Umber.


There are two whites to offer different tinting qualities. The pure Titanium White provides intense
highlights and opaque, pastel mixtures. The semi-opaque Mixing White is a warmer white, and gives
a softer tint. This lovely white contains no zinc oxide, which is a marine contaminant so has been
replaced with a mix of titanium, lithopone, and zinc sulphide.


One of the few colours made from animal products, Ivory Black has been replaced too. In its place,
Norma Blue uses a new spinel pigment to make Mineral Black, a dense, opaque black with high tinting
strength. It makes cool greys with white, deepens reds and blues beautifully, and it’s vegan!

 

Five Special Mediums

What usually gets up everyone’s noses when it comes to oilpainting are the mediums – those heady
fumes wafting across the room… not with Norma Blue! All five Norma Blue Mediums are solvent free,
extending your painting possibilities without noxious fumes.


The Mediums can also be used with traditional oilcolours, with the exception of Painting Medium Blue,
and traditional mediums can be used with Norma Blue, though the result will not be water soluble.

 

Like all Schmincke oilpainting mediums, Norma Blue Mediums are concentrated formulas, and just a
few drops mixed through your colour with a palette knife will affect a strong change in the paint’s
properties – a little goes a very long way!

Painting Medium Blue is a “lean” thinning medium, mostly used for initial layers. A few drops of
Painting Medium Blue mixed into your paint quickly thins the viscosity while maintaining a slightly
supporting character. If you want to dilute Norma Blue with lots of water, it is best to first add some
Painting Medium Blue to make the mixture more homogenous and smoother under the brush. The
left panel above shows the Prussian Blue thinned just with water granulating slightly, while in the right
panel with Painting Medium Blue plus water, the paint film is more cohesive.


Painting Medium Blue can be used up to 1:1 with Norma Blue. Colour dries within a day or so.

Medium 3 Blue speeds the drying while increasing gloss and depth; it also makes the paint layers more
durable. Use a palette knife to dispense a few drops into your colour (look at this nice combination of
Indian Yellow plus Azure Blue) and mix thoroughly through. Colour dries within a couple of days.


As an oil-based medium, Medium 3 Blue is best used in the second and subsequent layers of a painting.
It can be thinned with water and is compatible with traditional oilpaints.

Linseed Oil Blue is useful for loosening Norma Blue colours (like this delightful Cobalt Turquoise Hue
tinted with Mixing White), especially for blending techniques. Just a few drops are required, mixed
thoroughly into your paint with a palette knife.


Linseed Oil Blue can be thinned with water and is compatible with traditional oilpaints.

Medium 2 Blue is a “fat” medium that retards drying for extended wet-in-wet painting techniques.
Adding a few drops to your colour increases gloss and forms a soft elastic film. Perfect for working
blends over several days, or “finding the image” with additive and subtractive techniques.


Medium 2 Blue can be thinned with water and is compatible with traditional oilpaints. Do not exceed
a 1:1 mixture.

For final layers, Transparent Gloss Medium Blue adds lustre to opaque colours (such as this Cadmium
Yellow Hue Light), brilliance to glazes, and softens brush lines. Just a few drops does the trick! As this
is a very “fat” medium, it should only be used in the upper layers of a painting.


Shake before using and – like all oilpainting mediums – replace cap immediately. Transparent Gloss
Medium Blue can be thinned with water and is compatible with traditional oilpaints.

Oh joy! For me, the best part about Norma Blue (and the worst about traditional oilcolour) is washing
my brushes. In between colours, you can simply rinse with water to remove the colour. Gone are the
days of one brush per colour. Really staining pigments, like this Prussian Blue, need a little soap.

For a proper clean, pinch out remaining colour from the brush head with a paper towel, rinse, then
use da Vinci Brush Cleaning Soap to work a lather from the ferrule (the metal collar) to the tip. Make
sure the soap is rinsed from the brush, shape the brush head, and lay flat to dry. To maintain a good
definition with your bristle brushes, tie the brush head after cleaning and it will dry in shape.


Norma Blue suits the standard oilpainting brushes: bristle brushes like da Vinci Maestro-2 and Chuneo
for working on a dry surface, and softer brushes for working on a wet surface – da Vinci Nova and Black
Sable are excellent.

Norma Blue is so easy and straightforward to use: colours can be used pure, simply diluted with water
or in combination with the Norma Blue Mediums on primed surfaces or on oil painting paper. Your
brushes, spatulas and palettes are easily cleaned with water and a little soap.


If you’re an oilpainter, Norma Blue offers a solvent-free pathway to various lean painting techniques,
and makes cleaning your brushes at the end of the day such a breeze!


If you’re an acrylic painter who has always been impressed with the lustrous depth and broad painting
possibilities of oilpaint, Norma Blue offers the familiarity of a water-thinned colour, and avoids any
smelly fumes and alchemy.


I think all painters will welcome the development of a colour range that consciously strives for an ecofriendly
manufacture, ensuring that you can work in a low odour, allergy-friendly environment,
whether that is your home, the classroom, or the studio.


Is Norma Blue the future of oil painting? For many painters, I certainly think so.