What are R&F Pigment Sticks?

R&F Pigment Sticks are oil paint in stick form—made with high-quality pigments, linseed oil, and a small amount of wax to give them their solid shape.

They offer the richness of traditional oil paint with the immediacy of drawing.

Instead of working only with brushes, you can:

• Draw directly onto your surface
• Blend color with your hands or tools
• Build layers quickly and intuitively

👉 Think of them as a bridge between painting and drawing

R&F Pigment Sticks® are oil paint with enough wax for the paint to be molded into stick form. They allow the painter to draw or paint directly onto a surface without brushes, palettes, paint tubes, or solvents. We use only the basic traditional materials: natural wax, linseed oil, and pigment. The result is an oil stick with a lipstick soft consistency.

✨ Why Artists Love Them

Pigment sticks are especially powerful in mixed media because they allow you to respond to your work in real time.

They make it easy to:

• Add bold, expressive color
• Blend and soften edges
• Cover or transform areas without starting over
• Reveal underlying layers through scraping or wiping

This makes them ideal for a process-based approach—where the artwork evolves through change.

🎨 How They Work (and Why They Feel Different)

Unlike acrylics, which dry quickly, pigment sticks stay open and workable for longer periods.

This gives you time to:

• Move color across the surface
• Blend transitions between layers
• Adjust and rework areas

You can apply them:

• Directly from the stick
• With a brush or palette knife
• By blending with a cloth or your fingers

👉 The surface becomes something you can work into, not just paint on top of.

Benefits of Working with Pigment Sticks®

• They can be thinned with turpentine or mineral spirits.
• They can be worked with mediums by dipping them into stand oil, linseed oil, alkyd mediums, or resin gels.
• They can be mixed alongside tube oils or used to draw over dried oil paintings.
•  Pigment Sticks® can be manipulated with a paint knife until the paint is a buttery consistency, so that it can be brushed or knifed onto the surface. This method can be used to mix colors on the palette or in the painting.

🔁 Techniques for Transformation

Pigment sticks are perfect for creating visible change in your artwork.

Try these techniques:

Layer & Blend

Apply multiple colors and blend them together directly on the surface to create smooth transitions or unexpected color mixes.

Cover & Reveal

Lay down color, then wipe or scrape back into it to expose earlier layers.

Draw Into Your Painting

Use the stick like a drawing tool to add lines, shapes, or emphasis on top of painted areas.

Shift the Mood

Add a new color over an existing area to completely change the emotional tone of the piece.

🎭 Working with Color

Because pigment sticks are so rich and blendable, they are especially effective for exploring color and emotion.

Try:

• Adding a warm color over a cool background to create contrast
• Blending complementary colors for depth and tension
• Using a single bold color to create a focal point

👉 Small color changes can create big emotional shifts

🛠 Surfaces & Compatibility

R&F Pigment Sticks work best on surfaces that can handle oil paint, including:

• Canvas or canvas panels
• Wood panels
• Prepared mixed media surfaces

They can also be used over:

• Dry acrylic paint
• Collage elements

⚠️ Avoid using them over wet acrylic or unstable surfaces.

Pigment Stick® Surfaces

Pigment Sticks® can be used on any surface suitable for use with traditional tube oil paint. Normally that means a primed canvas, panel, or paper. Ampersand’s Gessobord™ is ideal because of its dimensional stability. More absorbent surfaces like clay coated papers or Ampersand’s Encausticbord™ will cause the paint to dry faster and leave a matte finish that is preferable to some painters. When thoroughly dry, Pigment Sticks® can be varnished just as you would an oil painting.

Priming: As in oil painting, all canvas and paper surfaces should be primed. To prime, use one or two coats of acrylic gesso, acrylic medium, or PVA sizing. Other options include: rabbit skin glue and shellac.

Primer: Any ground (ie: gesso) suitable for traditional oil paint can be used with R&F Pigment Sticks®.

Recommended surfaces for Pigment Sticks® include: stretched canvas; paper; clay-coated paper; Ampersand’s Encausticbord™ or Gessobord™; lauan, plywood, or masonite panels; copper, iron, or aluminum; glass; and plexiglas.

⛔ Important Note: The Paint Film

Each pigment stick has a thin outer layer that may feel dry or stiff.

Before using:
👉 Gently remove or rub off this outer layer to reveal the soft, workable paint inside.

⏳ Drying Time

Pigment sticks dry more slowly than acrylic paint.

• Thin layers → dry faster
• Thick applications → take longer

This extended drying time allows for more blending—but also means your piece will remain workable for a while.

🎯 Try This: Transformation Exercise

1. Start with a painted or collaged surface
2. Add 2–3 pigment stick colors
3. Blend and move the color across the surface
4. Scratch or wipe back into areas
5. Add one final contrasting color

👉 Notice how the piece changes from beginning to end

💬 Final Thought

Pigment sticks invite you to work differently.

Instead of planning every step, you respond.
Instead of starting over, you transform what’s already there.

They remind us that a painting isn’t a fixed image—
it’s a process of change, built one layer at a time.

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