Leisure Painter — June 2017

painters’ society, the Royal Institute of Oil

Painters. These societies stipulate that the

works should be in the manner of the

associated medium.

Acrylic inks are also finding favour

among watercolourists for their vibrant

and lightfast colours.

What are acrylics?

Acrylic colours are made by binding artists’

pigments in (generally) a methacrylate

resin; basically, a water-mixable acrylic

emulsion, which was developed originally

for house paints. The colours dry quickly

to give a waterproof paint film. Once dry

this cannot be lifted. The resulting paint

film is elastic and its visual character will

vary according to the quality of the paint

and the surface on which it is painted.

Cheap acrylics often have a plasticky look

so buy the best acrylics you can afford.

For this article, I will deal with well-

known manufacturers in the UK:

Daler-Rowney and Winsor & Newton; the

Australian Atelier Interactive Acrylics; and

the American Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics

and Golden Open Acrylics. All these

companies produce superb acrylic ranges.

Artists’ vs Student quality

Artists’ colours are made using the best

available pigments, including the

expensive cobalts and cadmiums, bound

in top quality acrylic resins that often

eliminate irritating colour shift, packing in

as much pigment as possible to provide

A

crylics have been with us for

more than 60 years. They are

extraordinarily versatile, being

capable of mimicking all of the other

wet media, so much so that both the

watercolour societies – the Royal

Watercolour Society and the Royal Institute

of Painters in Water Colours – will accept

them into their exhibitions, as will the oil

32 JUNE 2017 http://www.painters-online.co.uk

Part 1In the first of a four-part series on painting with acrylics,

Tony Paullooks at the types of acrylics available today –

and the sorts of brushes to inspire experimentation

The acrylic view

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Understand the difference between:

nStudent and Artists’ quality

nDifferent brands of acrylics

nBrush types

Lifting Mist, the Thames at Richmond, Winsor & Newton Professional Acrylic on Bockingford 140lb oatmeal tinted watercolour paper.

11 x12in. (30.5x28cm). This early morning landscape was painted in a watercolour/gouache technique. The tint of the paper gave unity

to the painting and captured the warmth of the sun. White was added to cobalt blue and scumbled brokenly over the sky and water.

The colours were all applied thinly, most reduced to tints to add softness.

t

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