Impatience in acrylics

What medium do you use for diluting your paint John? I too work mainly in acrylics and find pros and cons to the quick drying time. Pros are glazing (don't have to wait days between glazes), and if I see a mistake I don't have to wait a week to be able to correct it (being impatient this suits me well). I am a little surprised that you find yours take ages to dry especially if you are using thin layers of paint.

I couldnt agree with you more John. I work in layers too and I am glad to know that someone paints the sam way as me .I use the hairdryer too when it is great to get a dry surface to pait on..I like acrylics!......Syd

It can take a while if you use a lot of water or medium; I think those who would really benefit from the 'open' acrylics are those who paint en plein air in hot countries - hardly applicable to most of us on this Forum, though we do have a fair number of people from over various waters, but acrylic can dry out too quickly in those circumstances. Generally though, the alleged quick drying has never bothered me at all, from the outset - it's easy to keep acrylics workable, and with a stay-wet palette my colours don't dry out. Now, that suits me, because I like the fact that I don't have to wait for days on end for paint to dry, and yet it doesn't dry so fast that there's a problem. Working in layers and glazes is probably the best way to go with acrylics, and there are several ways of keeping paint moist. But this isn't John's problem, it seems - quite the reverse. I would suggest - using painting medium as well as water, or instead of; and using a 'shorter' paint, e.g. a heavier duty version like Cryla, rather than, eg, System 3. I haven't bought W & N acrylic for a little while (no particular reason) but did find that a little slower drying than some of the other brands. On the other hand, it has some wonderful colours, so if that were a disadvantage it would be well worth living with. Many users of acrylic would be delighted if their paint took longer to dry, so John - if you have a secret, share it.... The other possibility is that your painting surface isn't quite 'toothy' enough, or is even somewhat glossy. I would expect acrylic paint in general to be surface dry, in thin to medium layers, in around .... what, 3/4 of an hour? If you use it very wet, or very thickly, then of course it will take longer. But tell us more if you're finding this problematic - there may be a simple solution.

Patience, John, is a virtue! Just not one of yours, it seems. Hm. Well - I suspect that your use of W & N acrylics is the reason your work is drying more slowly than you'd like: they did say a few years ago that they'd increased the drying time, and I remember popping up with Phil Kendall on the Forum to say 'we don't want that!' Good paints, though. I don't think the hair-dryer will harm your acrylic paintings - well, you'd have noticed if it did. All it'll do is speed the water evaporation. On oil - well, you say when you paint thinly in oil, but depending on what you're mixing with it, in part, I should be inclined to have a care - any adverse effect would be unlikely to manifest itself immediately, but might well do so quite a long while later. What you really want to do though is develop arthritis - thanks to mine, impatience just isn't feasible: I have to stop after an hour's work, often sooner, have a rest, guzzle a tea or coffee, do a bit of stretching and have a general think. By which time, the paint is already dry (if acrylic) and often tacky enough for further work in oil. You grab these consolation in life where you can, I suppose.

Probably right, John - I don't adopt my 'ave a nice cup o'tea practices from choice, but necessity. When I had less pain, I could and often did work on a painting in a modified frenzy, often spending hours on it, sometimes completing it in one sitting. I still have a few of these - some worked, some didn't. It's just not something I can do any more, sadly. But I would if I could.