Fat over lean doesn’t apply in acrylics.
Matte medium is created by starting with gloss medium and adding a powder to make it matte. Acrylics are naturally gloss.
Even satin or low gloss will have this powder added.
Would like to see some of what you are talking about. Grainy results may have to do with adding to much water (an effect I sometimes try to recreate).
Some colors are naturally grainy.
When you say they don’t stick properly are you saying the paint will come off of the surface?
If you are using an oil primed canvas, that may be an issue.
Other than that, without seeing examples of the issues it is really difficult to evaluate.

Other than that keep painting, 500 to 600 more paintings under the belt might be beneficial as well.

Wishing you good painting.

Hopefully you’ll be able to find lots of help here. I had a lot of issues when I first started out and it took me quite some time to work past them – find out what works and what does not – and then to just get relaxed. Feel free to message me with any questions you have as well. I am no expert, but I am willing to help.

I guess it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish..? What style of painting are you going for? Can you provide any examples from other artists perhaps? Something so we can see what you are trying to accomplish? It might help us offer more information for you.

When I first began painting with acrylics, I hated them, too–I mean HATED THEM! But I was an oil painter for many years before that and I had a certain set of expectations of how paint should behave, etc. Well, I found out the hard way, acrylics are very different and will behave according to their own unique properties.

There are many things that can cause difficulties at first: finding the right type of surface to paint on; finding the right type of brushes for the sort of painting you want to do; finding the right type of acrylic paint for your needs (from heavy body to fluid, they offer very different working characteristics).

I love to paint on watercolor paper and use fluid acrylics to dilute into transparent washes and apply them usually by pre-wetting an area just before I float the color onto it. I have developed techniques for softening edges and doing blending with this method. I also use thicker, more opaque paint layers with watercolor paper as I progress onto the finished painting. For this type of painting, I usually use soft (mostly synthetic) watercolor brushes.

I also like to paint on finely woven canvas using an acrylic gesso ground and using thicker, heavy body paints as well as my favorite Golden Fluid Acrylic paints. On this sort of surface, I have found Golden’s Open Gel Medium to be very helpful in slowing the drying time of my paints and allowing me plenty of blending time. I may do transparent glazes or apply the paint in thicker, opaque layers or anything in between. For this type of painting and surface, I generally use stiffer brushes like natural hog bristle brushes and one of my favorite, Robert Simmons Titanium brushes. Also, scumbling is very helpful in spreading and blending heavy body acrylics. The special brush-loading techniques that oil painters use don’t help much with acrylics, at least I have found it to be so.

Trying to use a very soft brush, like a watercolor round, to apply heavy body acrylics in thick layers is very frustrating. That old saying about needing the right tools certainly applies here.

Always wet your brushes and then blot out the excess water before dipping them into acrylic paint. If you put a dry brush into acrylics, the paint may dry on the bristles/hairs and never come out.

Another thing that the budding acrylic painter must learn is acrylics are going to dry VERY FAST and once they start to feel a little tacky. STOP PAINTING and let that layer dry completely before continuing on. If you keep trying to spread this tacky paint, you will start to lift it and leave bare spots behind. Once this starts, no amount of muscle and determination will fix it.

Many acrylic painters use a fine mist spray bottle to spray their painting surface as they are trying to spread or blend a large area. This can be very helpful, but I have always found that they tend to sputter little blobs of water onto wet paint areas that leave undesirable marks.

You can pre-wet your painting surface with a fine layer of water before applying your paint. You can also use gels, mediums, retarders, etc. to apply a thin layer to paint into. They will help keep your paints wet and blendable a little longer.

As Howard mentioned, the “fat over lean” rule does not apply to acrylics.

Some colors, such as earth colors, are naturally more grainy than other colors.

Acrylics are not as opaque as oil paints are so you may need 2 or more layers to achieve the effect you want. One layer will rarely suffice.

Search this forum for handy painting tips. There are lots of very talented folks who can give you some good information.

Good luck.

Beverly

You could also try acrylic markers.

I think you are fighting against the medium.

I use a LOT of texture in my acrylics. I even add pumice to them, to make them super grainy, which is the opposite of what you want to do. Acrylics are perfect for texture work, and not having to worry about fat over lean. It’s wonderful to be able to paint a thin wash over a thick pile of paint, to play with high gloss and matt in the same painting….

However, last year I started to paint in a more classical, realistic style. I was trying to get soft blends in skin tones, glazing, paints that didn’t switch color as they dried. I was doing neutral under paintings, and blending was nearly impossible. I was fighting against the medium; because this is not what acrylics are meant to do. Acrylics are wonderful for some things, but impossible for others. I was fighting against the medium, trying to make acrylics behave like oils. So I switched from acrylics to oils. Now I am not fighting against the medium, and it is behaving as I expect it, in fact surpassing my expectations.

I think before you say I will use acrylics or oils, you have to decide, HOW are you painting? Will this work with one medium much better than the other? If you HAVE to switch to acrylics, then you may have to switch your style – switch how you paint, and expect different results. Or if you HAVE to paint in your current style, then perhaps you have to continue in oils. No one can say what you should do; but I would suggest whatever you do, do not fight against the medium.

Another thought – Goldens makes 3 types of acrylics – heavy body, fluid, and Opens. All have huge pluses and benefits, and huge minuses. I have used them all. I bought the fluids to do glazing, but do not think they work well for that. The Opens have longer open times (though not as long as oils), and they are much better than all other acrylics for making smooth gradations and blends. However, Opens are not a substitute for oils. Oils are slippery, the brush slides across the canvas, the edges blend like crazy, a tiny drop of color x on the canvas blends like crazy when you put color y on top. Opens, and other acrylics, do not slide, but are pulled across the canvas, in a sort of tacky feel, the edges do not blend unless you push them into each other, and when you put color y on top of x it is mostly on top, not a mix.

Lines – try goldens clear tar gel.

Based on examples I have seen of numerous acrylic painters’ works, I have no doubt that it is possible to achieve pretty much any effect you wish with acrylic paints as well as with oil paints. However, getting to that end result may involve vastly different techniques to get the best out of the paints you choose.

Smooth, flawless blends are possible with acrylics, but I’ve never been able to achieve them the same way I did with oil paints. It requires a different approach to utilize the attributes of the acrylics rather than fighting with them to try to make them work like oils. This has always been a huge frustration for oil painters who try to learn to use acrylics.

As to the grainy issue, that term can apply to the graininess inherent in the paint itself as it is applied (earth colors are notorious for this), but it also may apply to the look of the paint after it dries on a rough surface such as a medium weight canvas weave. I have always hated the look of acrylics on medium weight canvas because, when the acrylic paint dries by evaporation, it loses volume, shrinks and sinks down into and around the canvas fibers leaving an unattractive “cheese grater” look. You will often see little white “pin holes” in the paint that are actually the tiny spaces between the warp and woof of the woven fibers. If the paint wasn’t forced down into these small spaces in the first few coats of paint, the white of the gesso ground shows through.

When I paint with acrylics on woven canvas, I choose a very finely woven type such as Fredrix’s Watercolor canvas (widely available) or the Yes! brand sold by Jerry’s Artarama or ASWexpress. The weave is fine enough to take very detailed work well, including fine lines, and it still has the look of woven canvas once the paint dries. No more cheese graters.

Beverly