Talk:Acrylic paint

proposed split

I think the article should be split into a technical part, in which the polymer coating mechanisms are explained, and another article in which the artwork is explored. 194.53.253.51 (talk) 14:27, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Links removed

I've removed some links to commercial galleries or individual artists who appear to be purely promoting their own work or websites - Self promotion or vanity publishing is against Wiki guidlelines - Otherwise anyone could just add a link to this article because they happen to paint in acylic or sell acrylic paintings - Rrose Selavy

acrylic paint is removed by turpentine or mineral spirits.

But not easily...

MWAK--84.27.81.59 14:45, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Is that picture the best we have to offer of Acrylic? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mikeonatrike (talk • contribs) 17:51, August 30, 2007 (UTC)

My link - www.gailart.biz - is instructional as I have taught acrylic painting. Because I only sell my work locally or for illustration purposes, I'm not promoting on the internet. But there are sites where someone can view more of my and other artists' acrylic painting. If you're going to have a discussion of acrylic painting, it's important to include many perspectives and techniques, or else everyone might think that "One-Step" painting is the only method, or that you can only paint on gessoed surfaces. By the way, acrylic paint is really not removed easily unless it's immediately done. I just spilt some paint-water on my rug yesterday and have to really work to get it out. And paintings that I've done over a decade ago on fabric that has been washed repeatedly have lasted really well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.226.177.16 (talk) 16:22, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Mediums

I added the paragraph about mediums, incorporating a sentence about binding characteristics that was already there. Through the use of mediums, it is possible to achieve a vast range of effects that are not possible in oils and watercolors..

Media

The plural form of the word "medium" is "media" — not "mediums" — and I changed the entry accordingly. Also, I replaced a lot of parenthetical second-guessing with a "citation needed" tag. Buck 18:19, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Hey Buck, I am the fellow that wrote the paragraph on mediums. I too love the Chicago Manual of Style, but you are applying a dying and archaic plural form to a modern word. The plural of "painting medium" is "painting mediums," and any painter who heard you say "painting media" would probably still understand you, but would think that your English was terribly stilted. This usage is completely established in all forms of modern English. Metzenberg April 9, 2006.

I think substituting an "a" for the end of the word is how you form some plurals in Latin. Adding an "s" or "es" is how you form plurals in English. In English, I believe e.g. stadia is incorrect and stadiums is correct.

^Where on Earth did you find your datums? Presumably in the mass mediums. That's where one usually finds strange phenomenons.

Media

Media may well be the plural of medium, however the industry commonly refers to these products as Acrylic Mediums, not Acrylic Media.

Thank you. That is correct. I am in the industry. Metzenberg April 9, 2006.

Removal by Turps

Sorry, this is incorrect. The turps won't be removing the acrylic paint, ones own elbow grease will be doing that. You see, once an acrylic paint has cured (24hrs - 2 weeks), it undergoes a chemical change as the acrylic emulsion particles bind together. Using turps or mineral spirits won't unbind these particles. The friction of rubbing them is what may be doing this. Once cured, acrylic paints are cured irriversibly(sp). Most manufacturers actually sell turps based varnishes.

This not quite 100% true, about being cured irreversibly. I have some plastic cement which uncures acrylic paint, even after 6 months. ~The Little Green Man from Mars^{(My Page)}_{(Where do I live?)} 21:01, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't think i'd want to try plastic cement on my carpet or clothing. Another suggestion, Goo Off, i think it's called, would hard some surfaces. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.226.177.16 (talk) 16:25, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

No, I wouldn't use it either, but it does show that the paint is not irreversibly cured. For those who want to avoid dissolving the paint job of their model Corvette, the cement is from a Revell Professional Mini bottle, #39608 according to the label. ~The Little Green Man from Mars^{(My Page)}_{(Where do I live?)} 02:12, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

acrylic techniques and restrictions

"There are techniques which are available only to acrylic painters, as well as restrictions unique to acrylic painting"

It would be nice to have a reference or elaborate more on this sentence. Not knowing much about acrylic paints (which is why I was reading the article) I have no clue what you are referring to.

It would make more sense to write specific pages about the techniques and cross-link to the Acrylic Paint article Rawbear 22:57, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

yes, exactly, and my link - www.gailart.biz - is one that discusses many of the unique features of acrylic painting - artistically or otherwise. i've been painting with acrylics for over 20 years. more often now i use it as an underbase for an oil painting but i also use it on painted furniture. the applications are endless and the experimentation isn't over yet. i look forward to learning more about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.226.177.16 (talk) 16:29, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Contradiction

The following two statements seem to contradict eachother.

"one of the disadvantages of this medium is that paintings can crack and be corrupted much sooner than with oil."

"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), acrylic paints, at least in the 50 years since invention, do not yellow, crack, or change."

I'd guess the second is more accurate.

I've never heard the first statement from knowlegable sources, nor scene evidence of it! Sounds very biased and unsupported, is someone talking about cheap beginner grade paint slapped on with lots of water?

There are a lot of ways to make acrylic painting 'unstable' and cause it to crack or fall off. For instance, trying to paint over any kind of oily base will not work. Nor on most metals that haven't been primed for it and protected after. Any kind of paint has its preferred methods and MEDIUMS for best results. And there are a few colors that do seem to yellow with time - according to my own work. But generally, a decent acrylic will last a very long time and doesn't seem affected by sunlight or humidity like other paints. - 20+ years painting experience —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.226.177.16 (talk) 16:34, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Acrylic paint is not plastic.

"...and the fact that acrylic paints dry to a shiny, smooth effect—not surprising since acrylic paints are, basically, plastic"

Yes and no. Paint is a combination of the pigment(s) and the binder. Acrylic paint pigments are the same pigments used in oil and watercolor paints. The acrylic binder is what defines an acrylic paint. It's more accurate to say that the binder (not the paint) is plastic.

"Another one of the disadvantages of this medium is that paintings can crack and be corrupted much sooner than with oil, however, using suitable extenders that increase the thickness of the paint but make it remain plastic-like, or by applying the paint in thinner layers removes this problem to a large extent. Most painters outside of the 20th Century have mixed their own paints to increase the longevity of the artwork, and suitable mediums and powder colours are available for producing your own acrylic paint."

Almost all this paragraph is untrue. Acrylics do not crack or become "corrupted" sooner than oil. Oils are notorious for cracking with time and tend to yellow. The purpose of extenders is not to extend the life of the acrylic. Most painters outside the 20th century (do you mean before the 20th century?) mixed their own paint because of the lack of commercial sources, not to increase the longevity of their work. It would be really useful to list the many advantages of acrylic paint (rapid drying time, relative lack of toxicity, solubility/cleanup with water, color saturation and brightness).

---

--the paragraph about "another one of the disadvantages of this medium..." sounded awful, so I reworded it. and there is no such thing as "powder colours" in an artist's vocabulary. there are 'pigments' which are good, and "dry tempera" which you only buy by mistake then have to use up teaching kid's classes. --Kyle Clements - BFA

Techniques Section

Formatted the article but the Techniques section needs more work doing to it.--Artypants 10:50, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Plagiary

Does Answers.com usually plagiarize Wikipedia?

http://www.answers.com/topic/acrylic-paint-1

It's not plagiarism. but laziness, possibly , Yes, it usually uses Wiki's entries along with other web dictionary resources and credits the source.

http://www.answers.com/topic/plagiarism?cat=biz-fin

Rrose Selavy

Image

I added a photograph of acrylic for better illustration. Hariadhi 07:38, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

It's a nice image, but it seems like it could use a caption. Particularly since it's in the "Differences between acrylic and oil paint" section. Is one of those paint smears oil and one acrylic? Trilink 19:47, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Can anyone take a photo of acrylic paint being made? Erudecorp ? * 21:33, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

House paint

Am I the only one whose main experience with paint is for walls (both interior and exterior)? This article has a lot of good information on art, but what about paint as used on houses? Derekt75 (talk) 00:40, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A discussion of acrylic paint on houses (walls, i presume) would largely talk about mural work or decorative arts. You're not going to paint a whole wall with acrylic paint. I'm a house painter as well as artist, so I've done both. Wall paint is latex (usually), a different subject entirely. We could start another topic here on mural or decorative painting, as the surfaces are much different to deal with than canvas/objects d'arte. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.226.177.16 (talk) 16:38, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm confused by the fact that 'Latex Paint' diverts to this 'Acrylic Paint' article; but the contributor above says that latex [paint] is a different subject entirely. The term latex wall paint seems to be commonly used in the US, but I'm trying to find out if what we call 'Masonry Paint' in the UK is the same thing? Can anyone help out here? Andywebby (talk) 23:29, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

acrylic paint and varnish

Just a quick question. Do you have to varnish an acrylic painting? If so, why?

Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.12.42.112 (talk) 09:24, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

It is not really necessary. However, I know of two rational reasons to varnish. In some cases the surface of the painting can show differences in gloss; if this is undesired to obtain a uniform reflection you'll have to varnish. The other reason is that though dirt can easily be removed from the acrylic paint layer using water as a solvent, the water may degrade the carrier, e.g. canvas or paper. Organic solvents pose less of a threat in this respect — but they'll temporarily soften the acrylic, making it slightly susceptible to abrasion during the cleaning process. Nothing much to worry about but precious museum pieces had better be varnished, if this can be reconciled with the authenticity of the artwork.--MWAK (talk) 16:33, 24 February 2010 (UTC)