Page 41 - The Decorative Painter Spring 2017

ALTERED ACRYLICS WITH DECOART TRADITIONS PAINT
What is “Altered Acrylics?” It is a method of evapo- rating the water out of the DecoArt Traditions Acrylics and replacing it with Extender and Blending Medium. The results are an acrylic paint that has an extended dry- ing time and can be blended like oil paint.
The first question one usually asks is, “Is this possible with all acrylic paint brands?” “No.” The DecoArt Traditions Acrylic is a resin-base acrylic that is specifically formulated to work with Extender & Blending Medium in this new and profound way, allowing the artist to blend with acrylics.
This method of preparing Altered Acrylic paints takes some added effort but I feel it is time well spent. Their ease of blending and ability to replicate techniques that were used by the Old World Masters that, in the past, could only be accomplished with oils, certainly outweighs all objections.
PREPARING ALTERED ACRYLICS
You will need a hard plastic container with a lid. I paint almost on a daily basis so I prefer 4-ounce jars with screw-on lids. It really doesn’t matter the size of your jar or container if so long as you have enough room to stir the paints. Loew-Cornell has some excellent plastic storage containers with snap-on lids.
Into your container put three parts paint to one part Extender & Blending Medium. Mix it well with a palette knife. The paints will be a little thin, but as the paint dries and the water evaporates it will start to thicken. The time it takes to thicken depends on how much paint you are mixing (larger amounts take longer), and also how dry or humid the weather is where you live.
Leave the paint/extender mixture uncovered for six to eight hours (four hours for small containers). As the paint begins to thicken, stir it at least once a day (twice
a day for small containers) and add a few drops more of Extender to keep them at a liquid state. You will notice that some of the paints will thicken faster than the others so you will need to make individual adjustments of add- ing more Extender to some and less to others.
The paints will usually take from three to four days, again depending on how much paint and your weather condition, and for larger amounts it could take up to two weeks for them to thicken to the point of being like oil paint. If the paints are like toothpaste, this is a little too thick so you would need to add a few drops of Extender and mix well. You are looking for the consistency to be somewhat like pudding and it will form soft peaks when touched and lifted with a palette knife.
As the water starts to evaporate out of the paint, you will notice that the paint line in the jar will shrink down from the top of the jar. When this happens, add a little more paint and a bit more Extender, and stir.
Once all the water has evaporated out of the paint, cover the jars so that they are airtight. Once covered and airtight, the paints will remain blendable indefinitely. Sometimes when I open the jar, particularly Raw Umber, it appears to look like toothpaste. When this happens, add more Extender and stir. Any time a thick film covers the top of the altered paints, remove the film and either dispose of it or put in onto your waxed palette, mash it well with a palette knife, add Extender so that it becomes usable again and put it back into the jar. Because I paint on a weekly basis I alter all the bottled acrylics I use. Then when I want to do a project I mix my values from the altered acrylics onto a waxed palette and then trans- fer them to a Loew-Cornell Paint Saver Palette with lid that has the bottom lined with a cut-to-size waxed pal- ette paper. When finished painting for the day, I cover it .
Join me at Oklahoma Painting Palooza 2017!
Three great painting opportunities...
October 23-28, 2017
Class registration includes personal hands-on instruction, paint, written tutorial, patterns, step sheet and photos.
Register online at okcpaintingpalooza.com
Linda Sharp CDA • lindasharpcda.com • 925-784-2530 linda@lindasharpcda.com • facebook.com/lindasharpcda
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