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Acrylics on watercolour paper?

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Ellen Mitchell

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I’ve purchased System 3 acrylics and still finding my way around them. I’ve done a couple of paintings on the backs of watercolours that we’re destined for the bin. I usually paint watercolours on 640gsm, as I don’t stretch paper (life’s too short for stretching paper.) What I would like to know, would that watercolour paper be ok for acrylics? I have quite a good supply of it. Or do I need special acrylic paper? Also do you have to varnish acrylics or can you just leave them and mount them and frame them behind glass, like watercolour? When I paint in acrylics, I still tend to use the watercolour technique and not have too concentrated. Thanks Ellen

Sylvia Evans

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Ellen if you are using them thinly almost like water colour yes, I can't see why not, though probably not a good idea to get the palette knives out. Maybe a play and a practise try on some scraps or the backs of unwanted paintings and see how far you can take them. Though just wondering why you want to use them thinly ? The joy of acrylics for me is to slap it on. Alternatively have you considered gouache ? you get that opaqueness you have with acrylic and they are so easy to use. P S Just noticed you have posted your thread twice. You can delete one if you like. Just returning to your question , yes you can put them under glass in varnished .

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by SylviaEvans

Syd Edward

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I have used speciaal acrylic paper for my acrylic painting and I think that this is made to suit the medium better than watercolour paper. More recently I have been using premium canvas boards which are quite reasonably priced and they provide a pleasant and stable surface to suit the more robust medium of acrylics over watercolour.I would add that I have experience of using acrylics over some decades and found that the special paper and boards are my best choice. No doubt that other artists of some experience will suggest otherwise as is always the case .....but I expect that always. .....Syd
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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You can paint with acrylics on virtually anything - the only exception being very glossy surfaces, on which they'd peel, or greasy/oily surfaces. You can certainly use watercolour paper, particularly with System 3 - a heavy paper would be good. There are several acrylic papers to try, as well - on the whole, I'm not fond of them but some get on with them, as Syd suggests, better than acrylic on w/colour paper. Some watercolour papers might be a little absorbent, perhaps, but most of the harder-sized papers would be fine, and Bockingford works with it.... it's the sort of thing you have to experiment with. Canvas board also good, but make sure it's a known brand - there are some from the far East (and not so far East, India for instance) which need a wash with tepid water before using them, because paint doesn't always stick. You'll be safe with Loxley, Winsor and Newton, Daler-Rowney or Inscribe canvas panels; and with stretched canvas. Get stuck in ..... Whoops, yes and mountboard; again, depending on how you do it, it might be a little absorbent, but an acrylic primer laid over it might help (called acrylic 'gesso', usually).

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by RobertJones

Moi 17

Linda Wilson

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I find that acrylic paper, although not absorbent, seems to demand oodles of paint to cover, because of the deep grain. Therefore I usually apply a colour in a random way, before I start. I don't think this would be of much benefit for the watered down way of painting though. Also bear in mind acrylic's tendency to dry darker as opposed to watercolour drying lighter. Best of luck anyway. Linda
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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The darker shift is pretty minimal these days in the best ranges of acrylic paint, but it's quite true to say that if you've been used to watercolour drying lighter, you might find the tendency of acrylic to do the reverse a bit of a culture-shock. The colours that do actually dry lighter in watercolour tend to be the transparent ones - lay down a strong wash of Pthalo Blue and expect it to dry two-thirds lighter, as some other colours do, and you might be in for a nasty surprise.... Still - it's all a journey of exploration and discovery, whatever you do - and all the better for that.