Partly Paper

I'm back... my shredded hashbrowns are slowly cooking on the stovetop. It's beginning to smell good in here. I took out a steak figuring I'm really in the mood for steak and eggs, hashbrowns, and toast. Hmmm, maybe I'll mix up some pinapple orange juice to go with them. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Okay, here is the information that I shared regarding the acrylic glazing liquid and the gel mediums. I thought it may be some additional information that would go along with some that I previously share. Of course, brands are more a matter of preference, everyone has their own. I personally have had the best of luck with the Golden's brand. Yes, they are expensive {aren't all good quality art supplies?} but well worth their weight in gold. Once you use them, I can assure you, you'll love them! Anyways, the original poster inquiried as to what is "the lowdown on these two, what they do, tips, best kind, ect...."

and here is my reply....

My favorites are the Golden brand acrylic paints and mediums. Available at M's and other fine art supply stores. I'll try to walk you through each of them but my best advice is to purchase them and play and experiment. That is truly the best way to learn more about their individual properties.

Having said that, the acrylic glazing liquid was originally designed for interior applications on walls and furniture for a variety of faux finishing techniques.When mixed with acrylic paints it slows the drying time of the acrylics for increased workability. Depending upon the amount of glaze to acrylic paint ratio used when mixing you can control the amount of opaqueness and the amount of transparency a bit more. For instance, if you desire to cover something to an opaque finish, you'd mix a bit less of the acrylic glaze. To increase the transparency, you'd use more of the acrylic glaze. I tend to use ratios when mixing by pouring into a scoop, a spoon or something and noting the effect after I've mixed it well on my palette.

Creating and keeping a sample notebook will assist you greatly here and remember a tint has white added while a shade has black added and colors can be mixed alone with other colors or with either a tint or a shade to produce some wonderful color results, Also, don't rule out mixing with grey for even softer highlights and shading. Even changing the ratio of mixing of one color can change the original paint color greatly. This is useful in painting as nature is full of highlights and shadows and those often contain color other than just white and black. It also allows you to add depth and transculence to artwork.

Acrylic glazes are available in a variety of finishes from matte to a high gloss. And Golden products in acrylics do vary; between the properties of their standard acrylic and the fluid acylics. Like the name says, fluid will flow a bit better without any prep work.

Gel mediums are available in a variety of bodies from soft gels which are thinner to heavy body gels which are thicker. They allow you to create texture since they are thicker bodied than the acrylic paint and will peak up off your artwork depending upon how they are applied. The soft gels are great for collage work and can function as a glue for adhering thinner art papers. It can be used to some extent similar in nature to a glaze but without a lot of the same results the acrylic glazing medium will achieve because it is thinner and softer in consistency. Gels are used to extend paint, regulate translucency, opaqueness, and transparency.

Some of the high solid gels when mixed with acylics will allow for some of oil paint behaviors especially useful when mixed.

The pumice gels, clear granular gels, and course garnet gels are used to create texture and contain some of the above properties depending upon the amount of application.

Clear tar gels resembles putty, a tar-like feel, but colorless unless mixed. It is resinous and has a stringy consistency, great for creating small detailed lines by dripping it over surfaces or applying it with a palette knife. It will mix with acrylics but I've had more success with the fluid acrylics. It is great where texture and more surface depth is desired. Think wet, fallen leaves in autumn and you basically have that appearance it will produce.

I love one thing about acrylics, ok, make that they are my favorite paints... First, you can easily paint acrylic over acrylic, it layers well, and it dries quickly. You can paint watercolors and oils over acrylic but not vice versa. I know some people are probably asking why would you want to, well I'll tell you. Some watercolors have a staining ability that can add depth and texture which creates a visual receding quality while oil paints add a lot of additional color to highlighted artwork areas such as those in extreme sunlight bringing objects into the forefront.

With some painting processes, you may not desire that quick drying properties and there are a variety of mediums to add in and mix. It truly depends upon the visual appearance you're trying to achieve. HTH's........

Now comes the disclaimer, I am by far not an expert when it comes to painting --- with acrylics, watercolors, glazes, etc. but from experience I've learned what to expect and what isn't going to happen. Trust me there's nothing more frustrating than using a product that isn't designed to do what you desire it to do. Hence, my suggestion to try, experiment and learn.

A great exercise and a way to have some amazing backgrounds to use in artwork is to start an art idea journal. Using your paints, choose a color and use it first in its pure form; next, add a bit of white to it to create a tint of color, and afterwards mix it with black {again the pure color} to create a shade. I like to even use grey's as a shade as well, but it's your idea book, do what you like! After you've mixed on pigment of color, move on to the next color and mix it with the previously used one. Then, create a tint and a shade of that color. Experiment with ratios; using a 1:1, 1:2, 1: 3 or how many you desire of mixtures, add those to your art idea journal page. After they are dried go back and label them with a pen. This will become a great resource for you when trying to achieve a certain tint or shade of color later in your artwork and remember color often represents mood which can greatly affect your artwork.

When working to create your resource pages, use the left over paints on some torn out pages of a book and set them aside to dry. Being acrylics they will dry fairly quickly. Save them for future artwork projects as they'll make great backgrounds, collagable pieces, or even an ATC blank once mounted on something a bit sturdier, stamp on them, etc. There are a lot of possibilities here and another idea is to use your leftover paint for making paste paper. You don't actual need a full sheet, just get the leftover paint off your palette and utilize it vs. washing it off and down the drain.