Acrylics

Painting with Acrylics

Originally developed in the 1940’s in the form of house paints, acrylics soon caught the fancy of artists working on large scale works who wanted a medium that dried quickly. From this beginning came the rich variety of materials based on acrylic and polymer pigmentation. Fast drying along with easy cleanup and low toxicity gave acrylics a huge audience that continues to grow today.

Available in a wide range of textures from scarcely thicker than water to super thick, almost sculptural viscosity, acrylics meet the needs of a wide range of artistic applications. As is often the case, artists often stretch the intended use of a material to meet their ever-curious approach to creativity.

Airbrush artists are accustomed to using very fluid acrylics to achieve their tiny droplet style of work. Airbrush acrylic paints can be used with other tools, too, including detail brush work and works on paper rather than canvas. Filtered and super liquid, these colors work perfectly in any airbrush. Remember to clean your airbrush properly after use or the acrylics will dry to a very stubborn, stuck mass.

These same paints, because they are so dilute, can be used in over-painting of acrylic works. Use liquid colors for shadows, detail and fine brush work. Create works that replicate watercolor with these same liquid paints.

Hard edged, most often abstract subjects can be accomplished easily because the paint dries quickly and allows the creative process to continue almost without interruption. Hard edged paintings require that paint be applied just over the edge of tape placed to create designs, edges and forms. Once the tape is removed, perfectly straight painted areas are revealed.

Tube colors often contain an easily spreadable texture of pigment, while jars offer greater volume and—in some brands—offer thicker consistency to facilitate heavier applications and textural qualities. Thin colors can be thickened by allowing them to dry slightly, and through evaporation, they become more viscous. Thick paints can be reversed by adding a slight amount of water or, preferably, painting medium in finishes of high, medium and matte.

The addition of foreign materials into acrylics is popular with many creative painters. Sand, pumice, grass shreds, small bark chips and many other natural materials can be worked into the paint and applied with knives or wedges. Some materials come already included in mediums to which you can add your color and apply in your choice of methods.

If you work in any water media, you might have tried acrylics in the past. While the creamy texture of tube paints and their wide range of premixed, exhilarating colors might catch your attention, know also that mixing your own colors is super quick and easy. Painting mediums that correspond with the various types of paints can help you maintain a fluid texture or extend thick, knife-ready paint.

Application tools vary from fine, script and detail brushes to two inch, three inch and even wider, to metal and plastic palette knives and rubber-tipped scribes that can cut through a wet layer of paint to the under painting or to canvas. Artists often create tools that create the looks they want to achieve, but the availability of painting support tools is huge. High quality brushes always yield the best results as far as holding and dispensing paint, and learning to use them correctly will permit you to keep them in great shape and always ready to paint.

The surface on which you work when dealing with acrylics can be paper (a variety of thicknesses and textures), canvas, canvas paper, canvas board, ClayBord, matting material, poster board and more. Quick drying makes it especially great for signage. Wood and crafts are also great candidates for acrylic work. If the surface is smooth but not slick, you can paint acrylics on almost any surface.

Experience the speed, fun and ease of acrylic paint – in the form best suited to you and your work. Find a great selection at any art material dealer to experiment and enjoy and ask for acrylics from Grumbacher, DaVinci and Jack Richeson & Co.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 21, No. 12 — October 2011