Acrylic painting comes in wet mediums and is more affordable in comparison to oil colours. A lot of artists use acrylic colours because they are water-soluble and dry very quickly. Acrylic paint is extremely versatile. Depending on how much paint is diluted in water, an acrylic painting can resemble watercolour, gouache, or oil paintings. It becomes water-resistant once it has dried out completely. These colours are also used for creating textures.
Spatulas are often used with acrylic colours. It has its own unique characteristics that are not achievable with other media. Acrylics can be used on paper, canvas, wood, fabric, plastic, and a range of other materials that are oil and wax-free.
Some tips while using acrylic colours
- Don’t sit under or near the fans, as this will make colours dry quickly.
- Keep your colours moist. Have a spray bottle of water and spray from time to time on colours that are exposed to the air.
- Wear aprons, as this will keep your clothes safe because it’s hard to remove acrylic paint once it’s dried.
- Keep a small container filled with water while you paint so that you can keep your brushes clean and wet because it’s hard to remove acrylic paint from brushes once it’s dried.
- Cover your mouth and nose if you are using acrylic paint spray bottles.
- Keep them away from children and pets.
- Some Acrylic paints are marked as non-toxic and will not give you cancer. However, some acrylic paints contain harmful heavy metals like cadmium, chromium, and cobalt; these types of paints are labelled as hazardous and harmful. So please check before you use it and take precautions accordingly.
Some artists say you should not apply acrylic colours to an oil painting because when oil comes in contact with water, it can create fungi in the long run. Whereas, others say you can use both mediums once one is dried out completely.
You can experiment with both colours on a separate canvas and check this.
Tip — Methods which I tried on my paintings.
- You can use acrylic first, and once it dries out, you can start using oil paint on it, but not vice versa. Oil paints blend with each other smoothly and can be used for large areas.
- You can make your painting with acrylic paints and use liquid varnish once the artwork is finished.
