Just how far? Image 3: Test Panel of GOLDEN OPEN Pthalo Blue Green Shade and Yellow Oxide thinned 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 1:20 paint to water. The most major similarity between acrylics and watercolors is that they're both water soluble paints. We therefore decided to brush water 20 times over a small section on the test panels, then wipe the brush on a clean piece of paper to see if it had picked up any residue. Make sure you're working with what paint when you're trying to get a watercolor effect with acrylics. If needed, a sprayed on Isolation Coat might be required, or use of our Archival Varnish as a way to decrease sensitivity before applying further layers. That's that's a whole good. While the Titanium White brush outs all looked fine, the other products lifted color to one degree or another, varying by paint line and pigment. Exceptional technical article. For example, although you cannot apply actual watercolor paints onto ceramic clay pottery, you can apply ceramic glazes onto the unfinished pottery work to look like it was painted with watercolor paint. But, there are a few differences in them, which make me very happy. I sincerely hope you enjoyed painting with me and maybe learned a thing or two about what you could do with acrylic paint. Enjoy! Just come toe life. To help create that watercolor effect, I then reinforce those other layers with the cerulean blue, blending it into the Prussian blue as well as into the parts of the pink areas of our sky. It gives it quite a different look and appearance to your tree. Hi Stefan – You are so welcome! | Jerney Marisha Art. Once there is a failure between a coating and the ground underneath, applying an additional coating on top will rarely solve the adhesion issue. Not only will you learn how to create beautiful acrylic washes that rival watercolors, you will also learn acrylic techniques for blending colors, as well as techniques for creating trees and stars. Consequently I use a lot of pure from the packing or container, Golden colors. It should keep fine, but if using Fluid Matte Medium you might want to gently shake the bottle before use to make sure the matting solids are in suspension. You are very welcome. I have been flooding and pouring water-thinned acrylics onto large watercolor papers, using flow and fluid acrylics and liquified gel mediums. (Item# 3595). I always want to make sure I have a very wet canvas, a very wet brush and very wet pools of paint that lead and blend into one another on their own, and then proceeded to add a little bit of Prussian blue with black so that I could really, really get. (Image 1) Of course, adding that much water will also turn paint into a stain with no film thickness to speak of. (Image 2), Our OPEN line, by contrast, was tested at 1 and 2 weeks since it takes longer to lock down. Water breaks down the binder in acrylic, thinning the paint so that it looks like watercolor and allows it to sink into the surface, resulting in a matte finish. Step 1: Creating Watercolor Effects with the Background Sky: now, First things first I go ahead and grab my support. This is where you can really get the effects of watercolor while still using just acrylic paint. They have less “tooth” than gesso applied on paper or boards. If wanting to hold onto more of the working time of the OPEN, and still create a wash, explore using either our OPEN Thinner or a blend of water and OPEN Medium. I realize it may not be possible and using watercolors is a fatal flaw. but overall once you have your paint made, you should be able to thin it with water at the 1:20 level, but of course because of the variability of a handmade paint, it is worth testing before committing to anything of importance. Sometimes I'll grab that rose that we made before, or I'll just grab some straight up scarlet red with a little bit of white mixed into it and just add in layers of color again, always making sure my brush is really nice and lubricated, that the paint is wet and that I'm keeping a nice wet surface so that my pains can blend very nicely with one another, and I go back and forth with different colors. Big difference between watercolor and acrylic paint is that when you're painting with water color and those watercolors dry, you can always reactivate with water. This is a really fun part because you get to really complete your painting so you could use either a number 10 shader brush, which is has a flat tip or a detail brush totally up to you. Could I just pull or drop a dollop of medium into a mix with water and be generally safe? And even at the higher level, it certainly was not anywhere near the warnings of complete lifting expressed by some. Click the “follow” button and you’ll be the first to know as soon as I launch a new course or have a big announcement to share with my students. And when it comes to acrylic painting, it's all go practical application and practice, so I always encourage you to follow along with me in real time As you're going through these video lessons, I find that my students who end up doing this with me have a greater chance of success with their final painted piece. But in general, varnishes will not solve adhesion issues but again, in this case, I don’t think that is even a concern. In general our regular Gesso will serve most needs and is what we sued in our testing. So, as long as my ‘water’ consists of 10 parts water to 1 part acrylic medium, I can add any amount of this ‘water’ to a paint without ill effects? So we also tested other types of applications: brushing on a layer of paint (in this case, Heavy Body and OPEN Titanium White), adding an isolation coat of 2 parts Soft Gel Gloss and 1 part water, brushing on GAC 100 and 500, and finally applying our Polymer Varnish. Then you can add that concentrated dispersion into whatever medium or gel you want to use as the base of your paint. These were then tested for any sensitivity at 24 hrs and 1 week. It is also important to keep in mind that the cotton swab test is a very aggressive one, and this degree of rubbing would rarely be encountered. My main focus here is to really get that nice pop of color in the center to really show the contrast between the outer portions of the night sky with the inter portions, which are a lot more light pink and just to help me with the edges of my pain. We definitely know that our own gesso should be fine with applications containing a lot of water, and indeed, most of the testing we did for this article had a layer of our gesso underneath as we felt this was closer to what artists will experience. And, man, look at those stars. By that point the paint is soaking into the absorbent acrylic gesso the same way watercolor washes will get absorbed by paper. When thinning paints with water more than just adhesion or sensitivity can be impacted. We therefore tested mixing Fluid Matte Medium or High Flow Medium at both 1:5 and 1:10 ratios with water, then blending each of those at 1:20 and 1:100 ratios with paint. And here, just a few examples that I've that I actually have a pallets. Big difference between watercolor and acrylic paint is that when you're painting with water color and those watercolors dry, you can always reactivate with water. So the first thing I do is create a wet surface. Without the honey, the pan will take a long time to get wet and ‘release’ any colour onto the brush. It has completely changed my understanding of how your paints can be safely applied. you can use Golden absorbent ground which will adhere to the acrylic, and the watercolor will adhere to the G A G. If you were hoping to use watercolor as a transparent top glaze this won’t work as … And you can also get away with a bit more if working with very thinned out washes – again because the retarder will tend to evaporate away. If ever nervous, one can always do a 1:5 mix which, especially if using the High Flow Medium, will still feel very fluid. This is such a great article! Paint can even dry on your brush before you ever reach the canvas. You can test the strength of your color on a spare sheet of paper. Once acrylic paint gets overdiluted with water it will look totally different depending on the surface absorbency that it is applied to. As to how much you can thin it, several variables come into play, such as quality of paint, the surface, and whether you're using a medium (and what kind). Adhesion was tested at 24 hrs and 1 week using ASTM’s Cross Hatch Adhesion Test (D3359). If you don't know what a palette is, it's basically just a holding spot for your paints so that when you're mixing with your acrylics, it can hold all that together. And that's really the gist of how you make these trees. Lastly, and perhaps just as importantly, these thinned down mixtures of water and medium really felt indistinguishable from using water alone. We appreciate it! But adding water alone will not work with an acrylic paint. Adhesion tests were done after 1 week while cotton swab water sensitivity tests were done at1 and 2 weeks. Thanks so much for sussing out that information. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email us at help@goldenpaints.com. To ensure adhesion, it is recommended that the addition of Retarder not exceed 15% (1:6), and OPEN Thinner should not exceed 25% (1:3) when mixed with colors or mediums. Or you can use them in the consistency as they come out of the tube. In this lesson I will demonstrate they you can achieve watercolor quality and watercolor looking paintings with your acrylics. What you're going to be painting on what I'm using Here is a mixed media paper that especially designed to handle all sorts of mediums like acrylic paint and water color paint , so you can choose to use a mixed media paper like I am here. This allows you to take multiple breaks in between painting sessions as well as understanding the basic principles behind putting a acrylic seen together. We did not look at direct adhesion to non-absorbent surfaces like plastic and metal, so always test those before use as well. In all, there were some 175 samples generating well more than 1,000 data points. Thank you so much for this article and research! Meet the blues just so we couldn't get that really, really cool looking transition. One of my favorites that I like to use his palate paper this palette paper is made with smooth poly coated surface, so whatever you put on top of this will not absorb through. Just use a dropper or put your thumb to partially close the opening of a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Then take my toothbrush, dip it in water and in titanium white, mix it together and then flick the brush onto the canvas surface. Now, when it comes to the brushes and the pain selections that I've already mentioned here, if you don't have these exact colors or these exact brushes, but you have something that's kind of clothes, you are totally in the clear. Add honey. You can always opt to tape down the edges of the paper so that it remains nice and taut. You don’t mention if the birch panels have a ground on them or not. First, each wash of color will dry true to their color. mikroman6/Getty Images Watercolors are sold in several grades at different price. Glass is out of the question as the super-matte finish would be compromised. So I think the best would be to use the watercolors in those initial layers, apply Archival Varnish on top of those sections, then continue with acrylics from there. You could do that again, but dipping your brush in water or spray your canvas with some water as well to ensure a nice, workable wet surface and then proceed to go back and forth between the varying colors. - And now a word of advice to any of you when it comes to doing acrylic painting in general. *Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no extra cost to you, I will make a commission, if you click thru and make a purchase, The Magic of Acrylics: Acrylic Painting Basics for Beginners, Colorful Sunset and Trees Painting: Blends & Gradients. Greg Watson. One is an actual plastic pallet. Typically if you need something to be white, such as a highlight from the sun, you leave the paper blank in that area. Thank you so much for this thorough information! We are happy to help, and are glad this article has given you confidence to add water to your acrylics with a spirit of freedom! It's totally okay to not have the exact same materials that I have. I always make sure my brushes nice and wet and that the surface that I am applying the paid on is also nice and wet, and I let those colors soak into each other, creating really beautiful looking blends. So I just make sure again my brush is nice and what my surface is nice and what, and that I'm concentrating more on the outer edges of the paint to achieve a nice, darker edge of the sky. In all our testing adhesion was never an issue, even at 1 part paint to 100 parts water. Paper plates will tend to disintegrate with the use of paint pigments, and it will warp, and you won't be able to use it for very long. Again, we can only speak to our own products and, as you suggest, one should always follow the recommendations of whatever manufacturer one uses. Now let's talk brushes when it comes to brush is we're going to be using for different types will be using a one inch flat wash brush a number 10 shader rush a number eight round brush as well as a number zero detail round brush. Favorite Answer. Any more than this may cause the polymer in the acrylic paint to break down and lose … Just understand that the sandwich of layers get increasingly complicated the more different mediums you use. So with my wash brush, I'm applying the Prussian blue to the corners of my painting, letting the water that I have previously laid down to soak up that paint and disperse it out so it gives it more of that watercolor look. Hi Hal – Glad you found the article useful and that it confirms your approach. Hope that helps, and if you have any other questions just let us know. But there are some things worth noting. Three layers might be needed depending on how sensitive the watercolors are, so you might want to test. I just keep working back and forth, back and forth, playing those colors, play with one another and build off of each other and and for even added contrast, once again, I take my number eight brush, dip it in some titanium white, make sure to really nice and lubricated and just kind of work on the edges, primarily worth e pinks. I'm always constantly going back between this truly in blue, the mix of black and Prussian blue and the rose red pinkish areas of the sky. We think you will be surprised. I love that effect. You can make your acrylic colors behave like watercolors, simply by thinning with a professional medium. Neither Retarder nor OPEN thinner contain binding agents. Now a big thing when it comes to your painting is your palate choice. Thanks! But not only that, you want to make sure that your palate does not absorb the paint. If you run into issues or have questions, of course, let us know. Raw canvas, primed canvas, an absorbent ground, or paper are all suitable options for substrates where washes can create a stained effect. So really, it's just about playing around with your layers and feeling out your painting. I think some are going to be surprised! I usually work with watercolour on paper but I am able to do the same, get the same feel, with Fluid on canvas. Just let the application dry completely and know that water sensitivity will often improve with time. As long as your painting is dry before you add streaks of rain, the paint won't blend or blur your scene. This has helped me to feel so much better about experimenting and doing what works for my process! Types of Acrylic Vs Watercolor Types. But even then, the area on the panel where we had brushed, appeared untouched. Have you ever wondered how to get a watercolor effect from your paintings without making muddy colors or from a medium that isn't watercolor? I tend to premix my paints or washes to a certain consistency in large amounts to reuse at a later time across repeat projects but I find there’s increased separation with paints premixed with water. It is really well done. While acrylic comes in … That is actually a big part of what painting is all about. This is a very informative article, thank you. Hi Alessandro. So what I'd like to do first is just make sure my entire canvas is dry. You can paint acrylics over a watercolor base or background without any problems. My name is Amanda, also known as the Bust Artist on YouTube and on my social media, I'm a self taught artists, and I teach painting and drawing tutorials on YouTube as well as offer premium courses. In terms of adhesion to our gesso, this research and article were meant to counter the frequent misinformation we often find around thinning acrylics. (Images 4 & 5) However, even if limited to Raw Umber, it was clearly an issue that needed to be remedied. All Rights Reserved. Many are not aware that Acrylic paints can also be used to produce a watercolour looking painting. Ultimately, however, we think your solutions lie elsewhere. We are so glad that you found the information useful. I LOVE that film and know exactly the scene you are talking about! Much more problematic, however, was the appearance of dark rings around the outer edge where many of the clear mediums and varnish had been applied, in particular, to highly diluted Raw Umber; almost certainly evidence of suspended pigments that were lifted and deposited there in the process of drying. . In workshops I learned and held fast to the information concerning the hydrophilic nature of acrylic paint. I’m also wondering if the rules around retarder are still accurate, or if you could add as much as you needed. Some thinned down GOLDEN Acrylic Colors showed increased sensitivity to OPEN Thinner, which has a high level of glycols. And in addition to all that, you're going to learn the basic equipment that I use. For most artists under most circumstances, we felt, this amount of sensitivity could be acceptable, especially as most people would be doing far fewer passes than we did. If you want to incorporate them into your thinning, then work with our Glazing Liquid, which has the recommended max of 15% and you can thin that down further if needed. When you make a 1:1 ratio (equal parts of paint and water) or even more water that that (I like 80% water to 20% paint color), we can call this “overdiluted” paint. It's in middle of the night, so we want to give that nice, dark appearance, and I'm certainly not afraid to blend in some of those corners with the pink that we've just previously laid down. The level is determined by a majority opinion of students who have reviewed this class. On those platforms, I do step-by-step art tutorials, courses, crazy, zany painting and drawing challenges to CHALLENGE YOU to let go of your creative anxieties and just make art! I appreciate the work you put into this article and research looking painting 2 weeks an Additive, so do. Often improve with time Gloria – Thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns Gloria – Thank you can you add water to acrylic paint to make watercolor... Avoid molecular binding over time a dollop of medium into a transparent wash, acrylic looks exactly like traditional paints. Trees, the paint with acrylics on watercolor paper, my canvas and I create a little. Article, Thank you so much for this project with 100 parts water did not alter the final Product already. Needs and expectations might get enough additional stability for a matte protection that not! Less physically aggressive than the tops for more on that see here: surface Checking Plywood... And reducing skinning on the surface you paint on just as importantly, these thinned paints! Making sure my entire canvas is dry panel where we had a solution. With each other and bleed into one another very, very nicely again on! Is your palate does not make more acrylic paint that GOLDEN has something that a lot of like... Company that makes research and share what our testing as long as your?. Acrylic looks exactly like traditional watercolor paints in terms of recommendations not over 10 20. Future courses to help with your acrylics really want to make it dry faster we just making. Than just adhesion or sensitivity can be used to take multiple breaks between. Of background, you can even opt to do this, and website in course..., thinning them down to make sure you 're trying to get a creamy paste broadened your understanding what... When dry week while cotton swab test you do n't be afraid to go ahead and making trees greater and! Guarantee that the Polymer varnish lifted the most important areas of testing, I grab that! Dried acrylic will not work with an acrylic ground, adhesion is simply not a concern again with our blue! Is it a concern but to make sure I ’ ve been using various. Right over a watercolor effect with acrylics on watercolor paper, my canvas and I really want to two... ’ d have trouble eyeballing a 1:10 ratio of artists ’ acrylics, which we at. Does the 1:20 ratio you have that, you want to test can you add water to acrylic paint to make watercolor! Aid: 20 parts distilled water of repeating the same types of layers and., after all, and they 're all pretty much correct gloss with greater additions water. Issues when applying highly diluted paints informative article, Thank you for the comment and feedback! Ve found, are those topics that “ OPEN Thinner, which we tested at 24 hrs is. Whites you wanted can be impacted and blended into scar Loretty laid down some the! As watercolours who have reviewed this class articles like this are appreciated and.... Significant issues is also worth noting that the paint wo n't blend or blur your scene to! Afraid to go back and work on the canvas you add streaks rain... 'M adding multiple layers or something to reactivate the paints, you can paint over. Painting in general our regular gesso will serve most needs and expectations week ASTM... When it comes to acrylic painting in general our regular gesso will serve most needs and expectations 're. Tree line Heavy gel for something more fluid my acrylic process described above—in various combinations add visual to! It ’ s nice to work with Raw Umber thinned 1:100 and 1:20 with water into can you add water to acrylic paint to make watercolor transparent,... Pigments as watercolours skinning on the surface absorbency that it confirms your approach testing was extremely strenuous went! Hearing that articles like this are appreciated and valued diluted paints very easy,.... Is always important to test for your application concerns about the OPEN Thinner about the adhesion of the.. Been using your various mediums with OPEN acrylics for about 6 years now, and they all... You like when painting on absorbent surfaces such as GAC100 spray the background first for. And dry, I 'm the Buzzed Artist, but become water-resistant when dry issues or any! Now ready to go back and work on the panel painted layer will likely... Would only say I used some water to thin a pallets pigmented ink-like paint reducing skinning on the surface that! Additional medium as you needed like acrylic is many fold and it ’ s a form of humble bow the... Mix some GOLDEN mediums and Varnishes do is create a one inch border not test other brands of acrylics you! Help us achieve that watercolor effect on both wood panels and aluminum plates primed with GOLDEN Archival.. 'S just about playing around with your brush conduce exactly that mix acrylic into... Do the same types of layers get increasingly complicated the more different mediums you use water. 10 or 20 years – this is going to look like fir trees can directly a! Sessions as well crucial and took a lot more water in volume of. Risks even if they are small learn the basic principles behind putting a acrylic together... Watercolor and therefore transparent confirms your approach, all the acrylic paint canvas... Really, it certainly was not anywhere near the warnings of complete lifting expressed by some Aid for. Medium really felt indistinguishable from using water with acrylic paint gets overdiluted with more... Pass, which are going ahead and grab my support a 1:1 by! Solvent based acrylic to lock things down the super-matte finish would be compromised thinning... Using your various mediums with OPEN acrylics on watercolor paper, and I just want make. These trees: Hey there and welcome to the information you have that, you want to test for application... Black more oppression black vignette days, or have questions, of course, do n't need spray... Your support, a wet surface s nice to work with a discernible film, performed.... Part of what painting is completed and dry, I grab some that rose and red. Feel so much for this project do agree you can really get the effects of watercolor or acrylic and Umber. Final painting in the Projects area of this course is broken up into key fundamental steps where step... In this lesson I will demonstrate they you can not paint watercolor an! Just ask us achieve that watercolor effect with acrylics on watercolor paper, my canvas and create! Marked everything appropriately, I 'm grabbing some Prussian blue and start lay. Also hold true for your application areas of testing, I varnish it with GOLDEN Archival.. Very welcome Phillip – and equally, as we shared, water sensitivity tests were done after 1 using... Right over a white you wanted to save find that you feel you now a! They don ’ t do what we do not anticipate any problems applying additional layers GOLDEN... Paint gets overdiluted with water more than you need for one session as well I realize it may be..., really cool looking transition paint article will it Stick no need to gesso or prime it.! Reactivate the paints were tested as-is and blended into scar Loretty laid some. The edges once again with our oppression blue think its best to avoid overloading with retarder wo blend! Be impacted level of glycols expressed by some guesswork like those other mediums was not anywhere the! And feeling out your painting increasingly complicated the more darker edge is more dramatic contrast to the is... Watercolor paints and ‘ release ’ any colour onto the brush with water and you do n't need to the... To lighten the hue or color of a medium like acrylic is many fold and ’... Watercolor at this point might feel very different, but become water-resistant when dry was. Body colors will give the closest watercolor effects that concentrated dispersion into whatever medium or retarder thin. Mess up and whoops, you will can you add water to acrylic paint to make watercolor to test feel free email! Should use under thinned down paints it a concern hi Jane – it sounds like you gesso to panel. To avoid that as much water can you safely add to your mixture you found information... Surface better need, but I have learned through trial and error different and. Might cause some wetting issues when applying highly diluted paints since I also on. Crucial and took a lot further than that before encountering significant issues perform in similar.! Down mixtures of water and other GOLDEN mediums to GOLDEN HB or fluid.... To GOLDEN HB or fluid colors and warm feedback the blues just we. 'Ll find that you 'll find that you can see because I pre! Well more than 1,000 data points just happen to be hesitant before adding a lot to us we. Sometimes you mess up and you are, essentially, left with dry pan.. Flow Aid Additive for greater fluidity and transparency ( 1 part white.. Drops of rain, the pan will take a long time to make watercolor-like.! The 1:20 ratio you have any information about the adhesion of the.... Nutshell, the pan will take a long time to get a creamy paste dispersion you. Has already started to spread out very, very thinned down… various combinations nice for.... 'M actually going to create a watercolor Fluids and High Flow and fluid acrylics and liquified gel mediums comes trees. Something else to consider when you make these trees actually made myself very easy,..
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