Loved seeing you explore acrylics on large paintings Nick. I use acrylic and love scratching, drawing into, blending wet on wet, sanding back etc. Acrylic is a brilliant medium and gets an unfair rep as the poor cousin to oil - yay for the underdog rising up ❤

I use acrylic! I’ve used that half-dry technique, the textures are great. I also really like sanding acrylic after it dries.

I am way too impatient for oil and I can't stand the fumes. To slow drying you can use Golden OPEN Acrylic paint (and probably other brands) to make it act like oil. There are also mediums that will extend the drying time. Acrylic paint surface dries almost immediately, but the underlying paint stays wet for hours and if it is thickly applied, for days or even weeks.

@sierrarmcclain

10 ай бұрын

I was coming here to say this. 😁

@DawnRossiter-pz8br

10 ай бұрын

I also love Golden Open Acrylics but you have to use them in very thin layer or it will take months to dry. So the effects will be very different in Nicholas’s style.

@jenrichardson5357

10 ай бұрын

I find a sweet spot in drying time v manipulation time by mixing golden open acrylic with golden heavy body acrylic… longer dry time than heavy body yet quicker than using open alone.

If you want to extend that Magic period of Acrylic paint without using a slow drying medium try using a Mist Sprayer. This applies a light mist on top of the paint that slows down the drying, until the water evaporates. I use the mister a lot and find that it allows me to play with the paint much more. But if you want your acrylic to act like oil paints then I hear using an acrylic slow drying medium is best.

Yes I use Floetrol to extend & have found using my hands gives best results for blending etc. I also use the other end of the brush to mark-make into the paint at this stage 😊

@SomethingImpromptu

8 ай бұрын

Floetrol is one option (I use it for pouring, but I’ve had mixed results using it for brush-painting). I would definitely be VERY diligent about cleaning brushes to avoid allowing any to dry in them. Acrylic is already brutal for brushes, but that latexy quality of the floetrol can’t be good either. I mostly just wasn’t happy with the consistencies I was able to achieve with it for brushing. One option is to just add a drop or two of glycerin per, I don’t know, 1-2 tablespoons of paint (it doesn’t take much so don’t overdo it). That will increase the drying time quite a lot without changing the consistency much. Another option which will extend the paint itself a lot more is using a slow drying acrylic gel. I think this is probably the one that makes it most oil-like IME. And then I’ve never tried OPEN acrylics by Golden, but they seem like they’re basically just made with a slow drying gel as the acrylic base instead of a normal acrylic base, so I’m sure they work similarly. I have no idea whether you’d get good or bad results by mixing & matching these. I’m sure OPEN acrylics extended with slow drying gel with a drop of glycerin in it would take a LONG time to dry. But I don’t know whether it’d have any other consequences if you go too far in that direction. Depending on my needs I’ll usually just use slow drying gel (mixed in with whatever other mediums I’m using if I need more oil-like blending), or I’ll just use a drop or two of glycerin, because it’s cheap as hell. If you can make floetrol work for your purposes, it certainly does slow the drying time insanely… When you use enough of it for a fluid, pouring consistency, it’s pretty wild. Pours very commonly need 12-24 hours to dry, & I’ve even ruined one because it looked dry (no sheen, & it didn’t flow if you tilted it anymore), but even 36 or 48 hours later, it was still wet/uncured enough that when I touched it it left a dent. When you pour, you often need a very level surface to let the painting dry on, because if it’s even a few degrees slanted in any direction, over the course or 24-48 hours the pattern you designed can slide right off the canvas & leave you with a smear. I made myself a little DIY leveling table & that works reasonably well. If you’re only using enough floetrol to extend the drying time without turning the paint fluid, that probably won’t be an issue, but you should definitely have a space to dry the painting where there won’t be dust/hair/etc. falling in it over such a long drying time- similar to what you’d do for oil paintings.

Thanks for the tips! I usually work with Acrylic because i don’t like the drying process of oils. Happy Sunday😊

Now I have to experiment whether or not acrylics can stay gummy like that for me. This was very interesting as always! Thank you!

Delamination can also happen with acrylics if you use a lot of wax crayon or oil pastels under the acrylic. Best to seal the crayons or pastels with a spray fixtive or possibly clear gesso or varnish medium. Can also delaminate when painters thin their acrylics with too much water. Acrylics are made of pigment, binder (insures the paint sticks to the surface and also makes it waterproof when dry) and solvent(affects the fluidity of the paint. Usually is water in acrylic paints). If too much water is used by an artist to thin the paint, it makes the binder chemically unstable, weakening its ability to adhere well to the surface. Its best to use mediums if you want to drastically thin because they contain binder, so will adhere well to the surface. Airbrush medium is the most water-like. Fluid mediums are good for thinning and extending too. Im open to any opinions if ive got anything wrong here. P.S. water is fine if you dont use too much. Im not hating on water!😂

@vibrantly50

3 күн бұрын

Also, there are now acrylic inks! Which are very fluid - almost like using watercolor.

@raerae6422

2 күн бұрын

@vibrantly50 good point! Ready to go watery consistancy. I often forget to grab mine out. The inks make so many interesting effects.

Nick try the Golden Open line. It will stay wet longer.

I prefer to use a sander and scraping tools on my acrylic wood panels. I prefer the more uniform distressing from a sander and you still get beautiful underneath layers showing through.

Helen Frankenthaler used acrylic, she apply the paints on unprimed canvas though 😊 .. as for me, besides pastel, i love acrylic coz i need a medium that's faster in drying time compared to my first love, watercolour .. acrylic also immediately gives me many possibilities in answering my #whatif tendencies .. it's a fabulous medium 🩷 I use heavy paper for my acrylics. Hope you enjoy acrylic, Nic 🙃☕️

This is so funny to me because I love acrylics for the exact reasons you don’t like it. I want it to dry fast and allow me to layer and NOT blend. This is why I enjoy following other artists and watching others work.

Thanks for that! Some interesting thoughts popped into my head!😊

Maybe there's a recipe for a smooth gesso. I've tried to make it, but it get very grainy even with chalk. Gesso costs between $10-$15 for half a liter in my country (Denmark) and that would cover one canvas of the size you're gessoing

Do you know that you can use an additive to extend the drying time of acrylic.

As an alternative, I tried water mixable oils and think they are not as lustrous as regular oils. I prefer acrylics due to ease in cleaning tools and toxicity (turp). I use linseed oil only when I do oils. Just found out about the Golden Open line from another channel and see comments here as well. Worth a shot. Thanks to all.

In the oil paints, were you using zinc white? That could be why it cracked off.

I’d like to try oils, but they’re too expensive. I’ve been painting with acrylics for 10.5 years. I like them because they dry quickly and I can layer them.

What about trying acrylic retarder liquid. Also you can keep the painting damp by hanging a damp drop cloth and plastic sheet over the canvas in the wall. Just prop something against the top edge so it doesn't stick to the paint.

Great

Have you tried heavy body acrylic which dries slowly?❤

r u using heavy body or acrylic flow paints ?

Acrylic paint is beater then oil, dry time for acrilic is way faster dry time,and you can layer over it, with oils its slow as hell, i gave it a try once,and the dry time for oil paint was like a whole month it was that slow. So i stick to acrilic paint forlife

I haven't used Acrylic paint in such a long time.. A wee bit scared to try..? My daughter gave me A4 sheets and Reno Art premium brushes: ) I take it these will be ok to use if someone can let me know that would be great.. Thank you for sharing it on line. ❤NZ 2023 NOV.

But why are your oil paintings cracking?

I do this!! One of my favorite things!