Six Ways to Keep Your Acrylics Workable Longer

Acrylic paints dry fast. When humidity is low and air temperatures are high they can dry to the touch in as little as a minute. This quick drying time is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because you can complete a painting on the same day you start it. It's a curse because you don't have the luxury of dawdling. To paint with acrylics you've got to be decisive. As the saying goes, "You snooze, you lose."

Fortunately there are several ways you can slow down acrylics' drying time. Below are a few of the methods that can buy you some extra time:

Use Open Medium

This acrylic medium, made by Golden, is an economical way to extend the working time of "regular" fluid acrylics, soft body acrylics and heavy body acrylics. Add a drop of two of this medium to each color on your palette, mix it in with a palette knife, and you'll gain anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour or more of additional working time. Exactly how long depends on the amount of paint you've put out on your palette, atmospheric conditions, and the viscosity of the type of acrylic paint you're using.

Use a Wet Palette

Several manufacturers offer specially made palettes featuring sponges in them that can keep acrylics workable for quite a long time if the sponge is not allowed to dry out. My Sta-Wet palette usually keeps them viable for about two weeks with the lid on. The only drawback I've found is that our humidity levels here in Georgia are often high enough to encourage the formation of mold in the palette's closed environment. If you store your palette away and forget there's paint in it, be prepared for a less-than-fragrant experience when you get around to using it again.

Use Open Acrylics

A few years ago, Golden Paints introduced a line of acrylic paints and mediums designed to stay workable much longer than conventional acrylics. Open acrylics are great. If you're just starting to build a good selection of colors, I'd recommend buying Open products exclusively. If you already own tubes, jars and bottles of regular fluid, soft body and heavy body products, don't despair. You can mix Open acrylics with most brands of acrylic paint and those paints will stay wet noticeably longer. (There are a few brands which are not compatible with Open Acrylics, so be sure to read labels carefully. If necessary, call the manufacturer and ask.)

Use Retarder 

Retarder is somewhat like Open Medium in that it is a liquid that's added to the paint in small doses. However, retarder is much trickier to use: you must follow the directions on the label to the letter. Mix too much retarder in with your paint and your painting can remain wet or tacky for years.

Use Water

Water is what we used back in the "olden days" to keep acrylic paints viable. A quick spritz of the paints on the palette does work, but over time, repeated spritzings will overly dilute the paint. If you use water, use it sparingly.

Use Gels and Mediums

Some acrylic gels, such as Soft Gel or Regular Gel, will keep paint from drying too fast both on the palette and on the canvas. Most matte medium, gloss medium, string gel, self-leveling gel and other such products can also extend acrylics' working time.

Try any of these methods as your budget and inclinations allow. I tend to rely heavily on my bottle of Open Medium to keep my paints wet because it's convenient to use and a little goes a long way. You may find that one of the other methods works better for you. Try them all; you're sure to find one that's compatible with your working style and budget.

Note: see my post of 11/22/15 for one more way to keep your acrylics wet longer.

©2015 Lynn Edwards

Merci! Suddenly I'm into Curves!

French curves, that is. Earlier I posted this small painting (it's roughly 2 1/2 x 6 inches) which I had created using a plastic drafting tool that makes curves, circles, arcs, angles and other cool shapes. As you can tell from the picture below, I sure had fun with it!

Geometric I                       ©2015 Lynn Edwards

When Geometric I was finished, I considered cutting it up into pieces to use for pendants, but ultimately I decided to leave it intact. It's now available online through my Daily Paintworks gallery and my Etsy shop, Playing With Colors.

To obtain a similar piece for the pendants, I created a second painting using most of the same colors. Stupid me, I failed to take a photo of Geometric II before cutting it into four pieces. The photo below shows the four pendants I made from Geometric II, along with several others that will be available for purchase after November 16:

By this time I was on a roll. I was having so much fun experimenting with this device that I wanted to expand on the concept. So I decided to order a set of French curves that I found on the internet.

Well, ooh la la! These puppies turned out to be just too much fun! Here's the first painting I did using them:

"Untitled", acrylic and ink on 7 1/2 x 8" wood panel  ©2015 Lynn Edwards

Besides experimenting with this new toy, I had another motive for painting this abstract: evaluating several different brands of acrylic paints. I test drove four different products, all acrylics, none of which I had ever used before. The results? Well, let's just say that my hands down favorites remain acrylics made by Golden and Holbein. When it comes to coverage, smooth application and pigment load, these two brands are unsurpassed, in my opinion.

I might change my mind, but for now I think I'll hang onto this piece. After days and days of rain, with more rain to come, I need something bright and cheerful to look at each morning!

Text and images ©2015 Lynn Edwards

How to Extend Regular Acrylics' Working Time

Golden's Open Acrylic Medium

Those of you who read my blog regularly know I'm always looking for ways to get maximum use from my art supplies. And you also know how much I love acrylic paints.

Both "regular" and fluid acrylics dry fast, sometimes too fast, particularly in arid climates with low humidity. (Just try using them for plein air work and you'll see what I mean.)

A few years ago, Golden Paints introduced a great new product line: Golden Open Acrylics. These acrylics handle just like regular acrylics but they stay wet much, much longer. Days longer, in many cases.

If I had a fairy godmother, I'd ask her to transform all my "regular" acrylics into Open Acrylics. But I don't have a fairy godmother. And if you're familiar with Golden's paints, you know they don't come cheap. But there IS a way to enjoy a longer working time without ditching your regular acrylics: just buy a bottle of Open Medium. Add a few drops of it to "regular" acrylics and -- glitter dust, please!!! -- you've got acrylic paints that stay workable significantly longer!

I haven't conducted scientific tests to determine exactly how much longer, but I can say using Open Medium has resulted in an extended working time I didn't have before. My palette is a piece of heavy 4 mil plastic so my paints are probably drying on it faster than they would on my Sta-Wet palette, but they're still considerably wetter an hour or two later than paints not amended with the medium. If I used the Sta-Wet, I bet they'd be viable forever. (I'm exaggerating, of course. But I suspect a month or two would not be unreasonable to expect.)

Open Medium has come in really handy for monoprinting with my Gelli Plate. It allows time to develop surface designs, making printing sessions more leisurely. It also makes blending colors a piece of cake, along with any number of other uses. For students just learning to paint with acrylics, it reduces the frustration many feel when their paints dry faster than they can be manipulated.

Open Medium is now an indispensable tool in my studio. If I were painting plein air I would not leave home without it.

By the way, I am in no way compensated by Golden nor do I have any business relationship with that company. I just happen to like their products!

Text and image ©2015 Lynn Edwards