Monday, May 28, 2007

Top Tips for using Acrylic Paints – Number 10

Use Acrylic Mediums to Extend the Range of Effects

Adding an acrylic medium to the paint allows you to create a further range of effects.

For example – the glaze medium can help to produce watercolour effects. Glaze mediums are available in both gloss and matt finishes which will give different results to the final picture. A good idea is to use a gloss medium on the highlights, especially on water, for a lovely finish.

There are also gel mediums and texture paste which will give extra body to the paint for three dimensional effects. Rather than use a lot of paint to achieve a 3D look you can add the gel medium to the paint and it will bulk it up, this is a lot cheaper than using straight paint.

When using the texture paste is easiest to apply the texture paste to the painting surface and let it dry. Then paint the colour you want on top of the dried texture paste. You can add a darker colour to the ‘valleys’ to add to the textural look too.

1 comment:

Epilogical said...

I've just stumbled across your blog today and have been reading many posts. I have never used acrylics before and just bought all my supplies in order to start. However, I have to bring them all back home with me (1,000 mile drive) and was wondering, do you know if storing the paints in my truck where they will be exposed to temperatures around freezing will harm the paints at all, or should I try and find room for them in the actual passenger area?