Acrylic paint is a relatively new art material, having only become commercially available in the 1950's following Dr. Otto Rohm's development of acrylic resin, which formed the basis for the paint. Despite being only used at first as a house paint for interior decorating, acrylic paint was very soon adapted to become water-soluble and started becoming widely used by artists.
The beauty of this art material is that it is water-soluble and can therefore be mixed with water and reduced down to something similar almost to watercolour paints. Equally it can also be used in its standard form and applied very thickly to the canvas or medium for a very intense, rich effect. Acrylic paint will blend well whilst wet, allowing the artist to manipulate their work, correcting mistakes or simply layering the paint. When dry however, it becomes water-resistant and will not bleed or change easily. Thanks to developments in technology and manufacturing, acrylic paint also now benefits from very high levels of viscosity, giving it a great solid texture when used in artwork.
Acrylic paint also possesses the characteristic of being able to bond well to a wide variety of surfaces. This means that it's a more flexible art material, allowing the artist a greater range of applications and ways to express themselves. This paint is commonly on a variety of other mediums other than canvas and paper, which includes natural materials such as stone and wood. Due to its density, it can also be used literally as a solid material when dry. By layering the paint up to create relief features and textures, an artist's creation can quite literally extend beyond the surface of the canvas, reaching out to the viewer and becoming a three-dimensional sculpture.
In addition to being versatile enough to be applied to range of surfaces, acrylic paint can also be used very successfully with other art materials such as pencil, chalk, pastel, charcoal and may more. Following this, derivatives of acrylic paint have been developed for all types of application including face painting, fabric painting, screen printing, and airbrushing to name a few.
The use of this paint requires somewhat different techniques than those used with watercolour and oil paints due to its unique physical properties, and can include the following:
Flat painting - the process of layering paint without tonal distinctions, resulting in a very two-dimensional aesthetic
Spattering and spraying - flicking and spraying paint onto the canvas or medium to help add atmosphere and mood to the work. It can also help with suggesting more complex textures.
Scraping and rubbing - using flat, blunt objects such as plastic cards, rulers or an artist's spatula, you can scrape paint across the canvas resulting in some truly beautiful and unique 'distressed' and broken textures.
iArtSupplies are established suppliers of high quality acrylic paint and art materials.
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