1037 Main Street
Honesdale, PA 18431
570.253.2525 | Email
Wed-Sat 11-6, Selected Sundays or By Appointment
1037 Main Street
Honesdale, PA 18431
570.253.2525 | Email
Wed-Sat 11-6, Selected Sundays or By Appointment
Acrylic Paint mixed with water alone dries to a semi-matte finish, and there are many different mediums which alter the appearance, character, and performance of the paint. These can make it glossy, more transparent or opaque, and also improve the flow or retard drying time. The appearance of the color will vary according to how much of the medium is used. Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint containing pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion.
The main practical difference between acrylics and oil paints is the inherent drying time. Oils allow for more time to blend colors and apply even glazes over underpaintings.
The vehicle and binder of oil paints is linseed oil, whereas water serves as the vehicle for an emulsion of acrylic polymer that is the binder in acrylic paint. Thus, oil paint is said to be "oil-based", while acrylic paint is "water-based".
Acrylics can allow use of mixed media on top of the dried acrylic painted surface. Also acrylics allow for the mixing of other constructions into the acrylic paint - sand, rice, even pasta may be utilized. Acrylic paints are the most commonly used in grattage a technique which scratches the painted surface of the canvas with pointed tools to make it more tactile. Acrylic Paint is a relatively new medium within the past one hundred years.
Oil 
paint is able to absorb more pigment than acrylic because linseed oil has a smaller molecule than does acrylic. Oil has a different refractive index than do acrylic dispersions. This changes how light interacts with the paint films.
Although the permanency of acrylics is sometimes debated by conservators, they appear more stable than oil paints. Whereas oil paints normally turn yellow as they age/dry(oxidize) - and require a removable protective layer of varnish - acrylic paints, at least in the 50 years since their invention, have not yellowed, cracked, or altered.
The Hanson Studio Store carries the M.Graham & Company Acrylic Paints. At the heart of the M. Graham line acrylic color lies a unique high-solids pure acrylic emulsion. Containing 60% solids (instead of the usual 45% found in artists' color), this emulsion has enabled the paint to eliminate dependency upon the artificial thickeners used in artists color. The result, increased pigment loading for stronger, more intense color and enhanced working properties with the flow and delicacy normally found only in fine gouache. Our color may be thinned with Gloss Medium & Varnish or Matte Medium to the exact fluidity and sheen preferred.
