Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
Acrylic Pour Paint Brands/Ratios
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
Martin, yes you can measure reflectance, often with an integrating sphere or a specular reflectance unit, but folks should be aware that a standard lab spectrophotometer measures absorbance in solution. Anyone considering investing in a device such as yours needs to be clear that they must specify a reflectance spectrophotometer.
Posted
If you want to tone a canvass just to take the white down, you can use water-diluted acrylic for acrylics, or a very thin layer of oil paint (on top of the regular priming) for oils. It is not going to be - probably - fatal to apply an acrylic wash and then paint with oils over it, but it's a risk on flexible surfaces - i.e. stretched canvas. Poured acrylic paint as the basis for oil painting is likely to be a problematic practice, because of the very different rates and kinds of drying - it's always best, again especially on a flexible support, to avoid different types of paint.
There will be those who will tell you that it's perfectly safe to apply acrylic and add oil on top, but not the other way around. Well, they're certainly right in the second case; whether they're right in the first, only time will tell. It depends on how long you're hoping a painting will last without giving conservators nightmares when you're safely tucked up in the family mausoleum: there's a balance to be struck between bold experiment and long-term stability, and really up to the individual artist where that balance is struck.
On balance - I am not convinced that painting in oil over thickly applied acrylic is a good idea (acrylic priming is differently constructed, and is probably as stable as anything else) - but of course, there are exciting possibilities in doing so: I would be prepared, for instance, to glaze oil colour over acrylic paint or texture paste (again, different composition of materials) but - would rather not.
Not a very definitive answer - I'm basically saying "it's up to you", as obviously it is: I wouldn't do it for some of the above reasons, and because I like to start and finish work in one medium (usually - I'm a lot less religious about combinations of watercolour, gouache, and acrylic: it's when we introduce oil into the equation that problems might arise, eg in terms of adhesion). In terms of "best practice", it probably isn't a good idea to paint in oil over acrylic any thicker than a light wash (and it's certainly a good idea to leave that to dry for several days before painting over it: but on the other hand, if we don't try new things, even ill-advised things, we'd never make much progress. If you want to be bold, press on and do what you will; if you want to be as safe as painting ever is - have a care.
Posted
Thanks Robert. I haven't bought any pouring paint yet, So maybe I'll see how a thinnish coat of tube paint works. I'd like to smooth out some of the weave in the canvas boards I already have. I'm not at the stage of wanting to buy wooden boards yet. Good point about not mixing oil & acrylic. Maybe I'll look for cheap oil paints for the purpose when I get to oils.
Posted
I've experimented using a [System 5]* raw umber and Titanium white mix, on top of a layer of gesso & a coat of white on a cheap canvas pad. I then did the same experiment with W&N Artisan oil paint. But what has surprised me, is the difference in hue of the mix between the two mediums. The acrylic is much much warmer (but I preferred the colder oil version as a base). Both are PBr7. Ignore the difference in tone, but the hue difference is large.
Edit: As I'm putting the paints away I realise the Acrylic is a W&N Galeria* (not D&R Sytem 5 which is most of my acrylic paint) The fact that they are from the same brand is even more surprising.
Edited
by Norrette Moore
Posted
System 5? I only know of System 3 - have I been caught out, yet again, by the onward march of progress? I'm a bit confused by this post, to be honest..... do you mean that comparing acrylic from one brand with oil from the same brand leaves you with very different results? Or have I missed the point entirely - (probably). There is however no necessary similarity between hues in acrylic and those in oil - much depends on how colours mix with each other; and much more depends on paint manufacturers' very sloppy classification systems, insisting, as they so often do, on applying traditional names to completely untraditional pigments. I always go back to Sap Green - the colour in acrylic has absolutely nothing in common with the colour offered in oil or watercolour - you just have to learn the language of the brand which you're using, while preferably consulting the pigment numbers if you're looking for any similarity.
Posted
Sorry for confusion Robert, a senior moment here, it is 3 not 5.
But it turned out both were W & N. Both were PBr7 so yes I am comparing the same colours between oil & acrylic from the same brand and, likely, the same quality.
My simplistic assumption was that the manufacturer used the same pigment and then mixed it with with oil, acrylic oil or gum arabic for the final product. But those samples are radically different to my eyes.
Posted
To finish the experiment. After 48 hours I then tried some oil paint on top of the acrylic ground, and as Robert suggested, it is not a good idea. The ground was lifted off in little blobs by the brush. So I won't be buying pouring paints for oil canvases. Oil base for Oil, acrylic base for acrylic.
Posted
Although not a user of oil paints, there are others who might be interested in a technical issue. Norette is quite clear, oil base for oil, acrylic base for acrylics. Most primed canvases these days seem to be ‘universally’ primed which I have always assumed was acrylic gesso. I have no idea what gesso is made of, but since it is apparently suitable for oil paints, does anyone know the difference between acrylic gesso and acrylic paint that makes the one compatible with over painting in oils, but not the other?