What slow dry medium to use?

[PthaloBlueGirl]

Hi. I was able to get a few oil colors for free and have been playing with them. I love the way they blend. I love the way I can brush and brush the paint and it doesn't start showing the canvas like acrylics.

But

They dry so slow!! And they smell bad. I got a headache just from the paint itself with no turpintine or any other solvents. I have some Winsor and Newton regular oils. I want to try the water soluable kind. But if they smell just as bad...

At any rate, my problem with acrylic paint is that it just does not blend well. It also has this annoying thing where you can't brush it but only a few times before it starts showing the canvas you are trying to cover. The oils I was playing with last night do not do that. I could still brush through it several times today.

So, what slow drying medium do you use or recommend? Thank you.

[PthaloBlueGirl]

Hi. Sorry, let me clarify just in case:

What slow drying medium do you all use and recommend for acrylics?

My problem is that acrylics dry too darn fast and there is no time to work with them like if I wanted to blend flesh tones or something. I have to work acrylics in layer after layer and do a lot of drybrushing to get a blended look.

I was mentioning that I was able to try oils and liked their blending qualities over acrylics. I am an acrylic painter. Though recently I have been trying to get some water soluable oils to try because I want the blendability.

The only medium I use is water though I did try Grumbacher's Clear Blend which helps only a little and the paint still dries about the same. The clear blend would make the paint on the brush work almost like a powder-to-cream substance and you could get some blending over a dry layer or at the very least a few soft edges. But I don't like it much so I stopped using it. No, the paint did not become a powder. It just seemed like it when you'd rub with a finger to blend. I don't know what the Clear Blend actually does to the acrylic paint.

I want the paint to stay wetter longer. What have been you all's experience?

[Lady Carol]

I use Liquitex glazing medium to extend the drying time and water as needed

[Andrew]

Acrylics will always "dry" faster than oils. That is because the driving factor in the polymerization is the absence of water. The less water present, the faster it polymerizes. And thusly the dryer the paint feels. This is opposed to the slow polymerization of linseed oil.

The best way that I have found is to wet the support ( you will have to experiment with the amount of wetness ) and then thin my paint to a consistency of Tempra poster paint or Gouache with water only. If I thin further, I use a 50:50 or 70:30 mixture of water:medium. Using this technique, I can get 30 min to an hour of blending time depending on humidity, air flow, temperature and how wet I get my support surface.

Another option, would be to take advantage of the rapid drying, and use more porous absorbant surface. Then use really thin paint and glaze like WC. This is common approach by illustrators creating realitic imagery.

Andrew

[A Few Pigments]

Try the Acrylic Retarder by Grumbacher or Liquitex. The Retarder slows down the drying process to give you more time to blend the paint. Use no more than 30% Retarder in your paint. Along with the Retarder you can use any acrylic medium like a Glazing Medium, a Gloss or Matt Medium or a Heavy Gel.

Water can be used to extend drying time but for best results don’t use more than 10% water. The problem with using water is its effect on the “paint film”. As oil paint and acrylic paint dry molecules have to link up in the polymerization process to form a paint film. If too much water is added to acrylic paint the water can keep some or many of the molecules from linking up. This happens when the water molecules create too much space between the acrylic molecules resulting in a week paint film. The paint film is the first barrier of protection the paint has. Unless you varnish the painting of course. Also if the paint film is week the finish on the paint will be dull where a proper paint film couldn’t form.

With oil paint, the best paint film is formed by adding stand oil and a few dops of cold pressed linseed oil to the paint. With acrylic paint the best paint film is formed by using an acrylic medium instead of water. Using a retarder with a medium and a little water should extend the drying time to 10 to 15 minutes. May be 20 to 30 minutes at most. This will depend on tempiture and humidity where you’re painting. Painting in a thick layer will also extend drying time.

Liquitex makes a glazing medium with a retarder added to it. This would save you some money but buying them separately gives you more control over how much of each you add.

[peapod]

well, in addition to wetting the support as has been said, try adding some gesso to the color (as long as you intend to lighten the value anyway).

Gesso, at least certain brands, tend to lend unique blending traits to the paint.

[blumoon]

I use Liquitex glazing medium, and sometimes I add flo-aid(mixed one to 20 with water). Sometimes I use Liquitex slo-dri gel retarder if I want a thicker texture. They work really well for slowing down the drying time, and for blending.

[HRH Goldie]

Hi Why don't you all try the PVA then as an experiment - I know a couple of you are going too if not already.
So long as you add a modicum of water and wet your brush - I am having terrific results with it as both a retarder and a glazing medium - it is terrific for blendability just like oils when on canvas.
Christine

[PthaloBlueGirl]

Originally Posted by HRH Goldie

Hi Why don't you all try the PVA then as an experiment - I know a couple of you are going too if not already.
So long as you add a modicum of water and wet your brush - I am having terrific results with it as both a retarder and a glazing medium - it is terrific for blendability just like oils when on canvas.
Christine

I think your experimenting with all sorts of stuff is great, but I can't get around the idea of glue in paint. Yuck. I still think of PVA as that white glue you use for craft projects and such and that stuff doesn't dry completely clear. I don't like rubies and emeralds because of the 'milk with red or green in it' look to them I don't want my paints to look similar.

[PthaloBlueGirl]

Originally Posted by blumoon

I use Liquitex glazing medium, and sometimes I add flo-aid(mixed one to 20 with water). Sometimes I use Liquitex slo-dri gel retarder if I want a thicker texture. They work really well for slowing down the drying time, and for blending.

Cute cat!!

Doesn't the glazing medium make the paint more transparent?

[blumoon]

If you want a transparent glaze you can use 7-10pts medium to 1 part color, for translucent glaze 4-6pts med to 1pt color, so for non-transparent you would have to use more color. If that is a concern there is also slo-dri blending fluid medium, which you can add any amount of and it doesn't make it more transparent, I don't think. I don't think the slo-dri gel retarder makes it more transparent. There's also gloss med& varnish which should only be 25% of your mixture, and you can add a small amount of flo-aid to this which increases the open time also, though it does have a gloss to it, but can be balanced by a satin varnish.

[HRH Goldie]

Forget about pva being a glue - think of it as a medium. It doesn't cloud the paint at all! It depends on quantity added but you can get a more translucent quality by adding more to the paint. Otherwise 60 paint 40 pva.
I believe you have a substance in USA called 'Mod Podge'. This can be used as a sealer, glaze or stick. It does just about anything and I believe it is acid free. There are various different finishes. Gloss, matt etc. Therefore if you add gloss to paint then you will enhance the sheen on finished piece. As long as you keep brush moist then contrary to what you may think, the mix behaves like any fine paint.
Hope this helps.
Christine

[dspinks]

Re Liquitex glazing medium - it's important to note that their glazing product is fast drying. For slow drying, you'll want to use Liquitex blending medium, which is slow drying. Another good product is Golden's slow drying glazing medium (confusing, eh?).

If I just need slow drying in general, I mix a bit of gel retarder into the paints before I add regular medium.

If I want to keep the paint open and have smooth blending of different tonal values or colors, I add Liquitex blending or Golden glazing.

If I want to do quick drying, thin layers, I use Liquitex glazing.

An example of using all three of these methods can be found here: http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...88&postcount=6

Debra

[MonicaB]

Thanks for clearing that up, Debra. All these mediums can be so confusing. So, if you want to glazing medium from Liquitex but want it to stay open longer, can you add blending medium?

[dspinks]

Goldens' Glazing and Liquitex's Blending mediums are basically regular medium with a retarder added.

You want to be careful not to have an aggregate of too much retarder (no more than about 10-12% bulk) as your paints will become gummy and may lift with subsequent layers. So if you know you will be using the slow drying mediums, then don't add gel retarder, or only a tiny bit, in the initial mix of paint/medium.

Adding retarder gel and then regular medium to your paint and then putting a bit of that mixture into a pool of Liquitex fast-drying glazing medium will give you a nice transparent glaze that will dry a bit slower than just with the fast dry glaze medium.

Or, you can add a bit of paint that has no retarder into a pool of blending medium - it will act as a slow drying glaze.

Debra