Why Paint With Acrylics?…

What does acrylic paint consist of, we may well ask? The right answer to this being a consistency of mixed resin and the pigments. Altogether it is a synthetic type mix. The paint is soluble with water, although it dries quickly, making it possible to use for many projects. Fairly pliable too, as they can in fact be used just like oils and watercolours, taken straight from the tube itself.

They are of a thick consistency and are slightly creamy when you take paint from the tube, but they can also give much fluidity if you first dilute them with water and then they become transparent. However, if you use them with other acrylic mediums, you can obtain different effective results, so it is very easy to use by old and young alike, with a short drying time.

In the 1960's it was very popular with Pop Artists, mainly because of the paints permanence and vibrancy of colour. So handy as you can use them as you would oils, and they are also used widely today.

Acrylics have many advantages when you actually work with them. The colours do not tend to yellow, the intensity achieved is good and they are waterproof. It is better to have primed your canvas or surface first with an acrylic primer, then the paint will cover most surfaces.

Prime your work surface first, whether it be canvas, paper, hardboard etc. You will not have to wait long to actually paint on it. If you think, after painting, that maybe your work looks sort of even and flat, you could add some different textures to your work. This you can do by taking your palette and adding different mediums to the paint.

Advertisement hoarding boards were just one way acrylics have been used to create striking art. Comic strips too. For example, take David Hockney, he used them as you would oils. On the other hand Van Gogh used the creamy paint directly from the tube.

A useful palette you might find to use, would be Mars Black, Titanium White, Brilliant Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, a Crimson and probably a Dark Green. Remember you can always mix the colours to obtain other shades.

These paints are used for quite a variety of different purposes, so they are easily accessible in art suppliers. Whatever paint you are using though, the golden rule is clean your brushes directly after use.

Abstract paintings are very popular and abound on the market today, whether to be hung in the home, offices, banks, etc. They seem to suit our daily needs.

Is it any wonder then, so many people work with acrylics for their artwork? Ideal too for collages, and many more styles of work. Abstracts are everywhere, so artists have a ready market for their work.