Home › Forums › Explore Media › Acrylics › Why does this always happen when I add paint?
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February 16, 2018 at 4:33 am #451445
Hi all,
Everytime I paint, for some reason I get patches where the paint just will not stick. As per the below image, the middle of the tulip was bare, I’d load my brush with more than enough paint but the paint still refuses to stay but instead moves to the edges. I did not over dilute with water. I’ve only ever painted on board that is pre-gesso’d.My paintings are shown on the following:
https://www.instagram.com/mario_knez_artist/
https://www.facebook.com/marioknezartistFebruary 16, 2018 at 6:09 am #566912That’s terrible, Mario. Maybe it is a peculiarity of your paints. I have only used regular Golden and Liquitex acrylics, and nothing like that has ever happened.
C&C is welcome.
RichardFebruary 16, 2018 at 6:18 am #566926That’s terrible, Mario. Maybe it is a peculiarity of your paints. I have only used regular Golden and Liquitex acrylics, and nothing like that has ever happened.
I was using Jo Sonja burnt umber mixed with Global acrylic impasto white.
Both are artist quality. Used to happen with student quality but didn’t expect this with artist quality. If you want to see terrible, look inside my other thread which I posted in earlier.My paintings are shown on the following:
https://www.instagram.com/mario_knez_artist/
https://www.facebook.com/marioknezartistFebruary 16, 2018 at 6:26 am #566927Maybe I am adding too much water?
Is it okay to use acrylic paint without adding some water?My paintings are shown on the following:
https://www.instagram.com/mario_knez_artist/
https://www.facebook.com/marioknezartistFebruary 16, 2018 at 7:07 am #566913Maybe I am adding too much water?
Is it okay to use acrylic paint without adding some water?Acrylic can be used straight from the tube, or thinned like watercolor, or anything in between. Of course, if you thin it a lot, it can compromise the integrity of the paint film, so that it does not become water resistant when it dries.
C&C is welcome.
RichardFebruary 16, 2018 at 7:11 am #566928Acrylic can be used straight from the tube, or thinned like watercolor, or anything in between. Of course, if you thin it a lot, it can compromise the integrity of the paint film, so that it does not become water resistant when it dries.
I always add water. I was under the impression that acrylic needs water or some sort of medium to work.
I often paint my brushes in water and then wipe on paper towel to keep the paint from drying on them. Maybe the water from the brush is over diluting the paint.My paintings are shown on the following:
https://www.instagram.com/mario_knez_artist/
https://www.facebook.com/marioknezartistFebruary 16, 2018 at 9:36 am #566917I’ve heard that due to the vagaries of manufacturing artist canvas and boards, sometimes spots on the canvas/board aren’t properly primed. Try adding your own coat of gesso onto the surface before painting on it and see if that solves the problem.
Mary.
Mary Thompson
http://www.wildpinesstudio.netConstructive Criticism Always Welcome.
February 16, 2018 at 11:28 am #566911Mario, I’ve just posted in your other thread and some of the comment there might be relevant.
I wonder, in this case above, if you got some oil/grease/natural or otherwise on the canvas? …. that would act as a resist and cause this.
Also, as mentioned, not all pre-prepared canvases are well covered!What you could try, is to use a fine sandpaper over part, or all, of the canvas …. brush off or blow off the sandings and the gesso with two or three coats, each in a different direction….. sanding between, when dry, will give a smoother surface.
The amount of water left on your brush would not dilute the paint much, so I doubt that would be the problem.
Acrylics can be used in their pure form squeezed directly onto the canvas … I often do this to make a base cover, spreading with a palette knife or card.
So, in all, the problem is most likely to be the canvas!
Cheers, Maureen
Forum projects: Plant Parade projects in the Florals/Botanicals forum , WDE in the All Media Art Events , Different Strokes in Acrylics forum .February 16, 2018 at 12:16 pm #566915I suffered that a lot when I started, but mostly when I tried to reload more densely an area that I had just brushed some ink. Took me some time to learn to not overextend a brush load. Do not try to spread it too much you end up just leaving the most tacky remains of the brush on the last few strokes. That part adheres BADLY!
So load the brush just a bit and frequently, do not unload it completely and wash the brush (just submerge in water from time to time, if you leave small remains too long in the brush they tend to go backwards in the brush and get more and more tacky while they start to dry. When you try to take too much of your brush without reloading it.. you end up using those remains in your picture.. and they are NOT in prime condition anymore.
When I learned that, the problem vanished for me.
Also as said, do not use too much water in the paint .. after a certain threshold it changes abruptly is adhesive behavior.
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February 16, 2018 at 12:23 pm #566916I reported on a similar problem some time ago. I was (and still am) using canvas panels manufactured in either China or Vietnam. These come wrapped with shrink film. The film is extruded and wrapped on large spools. The manufacturer of the film adds a agent to the plastic to keep the layers from sticking together. Occasionally that agent is transferred from the film to the canvas after it has been gessoed. The agent is slightly oily.
After a couple of bad episodes of local resists to acrylic, I now wipe my panels with rubbing alcohol and let them dry for days before painting.BTW for the techies the agent is called an anti-blocking agent and is often a stearate like glycerol monostearate or GMS. Stearates are classified as soaps.
February 16, 2018 at 1:22 pm #566923Jim (old_hobbyist) has given the most likely answer and the best solution for store-bought surfaces. By the way, this could happen even with the most high-priced surfaces if they are wrapped in plastic.
This is one reason why I prep my own surfaces.
A painting is never really done as long as I can get my hands on it.
February 16, 2018 at 1:55 pm #566918I’ve only ever painted on board that is pre-gesso’d.
Pre-purchased gessoed, or gessoed by you?
Oh I so remember this problem! I had it, too.
If it’s pre-gessoed (bought that way), I’d say old_hobbyist is spot on and well worth exploring. I’m wondering, if the material he’s citing as a treatment in the packaging that’s contaminating the surface is a surfactent, then couldn’t it be removed with just water? Would the alcohol cleaning be absolutely necessary? I wetting down my pre-gessoed boards, then after a minute or two giving them a gentle scrub – and noting if the water seemed to bubble (yes? then there’s surfactents aka soaps that prevent paint strokes sticking). So in essence, activating them and washing them off. I’d dry the board, then wet again/scrub to check.
To improve the adhesion even more, once dry, I’d skim them with a tiny bit of the mid or high end Liquitex gesso, which is very chaulky, and much less of the polymer of the golden gesso (which is balanced for more sealing). I don’t think the student grade of the Liquitex gesso really cuts the mustard for this purpose. I needed only the tiniest amount to treat the surface, so it is very cost effective.
And lastly, I realized I was adding way too much paint, too much water and using too stiff a brush/too heavy a hand. Phew! I would scoop uo the paint and stroke with the brush – it wouldn’t adhere easily at all (the surfactent issue) and my somewhat stiff brush/heavy hand would plow through the stroke, the extra paint oozing out either side – and I’d chase this around trying to get the paint to go where I wanted – nope.
I was so disappointed with my first experiences, and it took a while to work it all out. I think I see that what I experienced is all cited in one or another of all the other posts here, too. Wise words.
So, now, with the surface/gesso/residue issue resolved, I would take my brush and dip just the tip into my mixed pile, getting paint onto just the tip – bottom 1/5th let’s say – and lay in the stroke. Without too much water, this felt stickier, and the paint stayed where I put it. I adjusted upward from there.
But, can this help your painting in progress? Perhaps a patch treatment may help.
I’ve seen the image your working from, and I think that from an application of methods that working transparently, adding layers thinly, and working up *may* be a good strategy. Now that’s definitely just an idea.
Cheers!
ps on another note, what about the mixed paint on the palette drying too fast? If this is an issue, here’s what have done: I put little glass cups or lids over the pile while not in use – I tried to minimize water spraying the pile. Plus, I now work on a glass palette salvaged from a very cheap glass cutting board (2 dollars!). Using the aforementioned glass cups, and also I did splurge (though with a 50% off coupon) on a seal-able, large plastic container designed to hold paints = Masterson. Into that I put my glass palette, with little picture hanging stick-on nubs on the glass underside to raise it up from the bottom of the tray, into which I have a little water on the bottom.
I’ve been able to keep my mixed paints for definitely days, and sometimes a couple of months this way.
February 16, 2018 at 3:23 pm #566922The contamination could also come from release agents in the mfg. process. These may or may not be stearate-based, such as silicone, for example.
A painting is never really done as long as I can get my hands on it.
February 16, 2018 at 3:40 pm #566925This is happening to me too but I found out ,,my room is too cold..only 58 degrees.Iwas trying to reuse a canvas that I had painted on and covered in arcylic .I was trying to cover it with bob ross gesso.Finaly brought it to a warmer place-seems to me ok now.
February 16, 2018 at 6:59 pm #566910Mario, you’ve gotten some great answers here. I just want to add one other possibility. When I was an acrylics newbie I used to try to keep painting an area and get the paint blended or just spread around more evenly when the paint was already beginning to get tacky and set up. The more determinedly I tried to paint over these areas, the more the paint layer below would lift up and leave unsightly thin spots. I learned not to try to keep painting an area once the paint began to feel a little tacky. I would stop, allow the paint layer to dry thoroughly, then I would apply a new layer. That solved my problem! Keep in mind that thicker layers of acrylic paint may feel dry to the touch but they are not fully set and dried. If you begin working over them too soon, especially with a stiff brush, they will lift off and leave those ugly spots.
Beverly
I love cooking with wines! Sometimes I even put it in the food! -- Julia Child
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