Lower Slaughter, Golden High Flow Acrylics on 140lb paper, (25.5x35.5cm)

From traditional painting methods to pouring the pigment straight onto the paper, Tim Fisher offers a wealth of advice and ideas for using these exciting acrylics from Golden.

Golden Artists Colours produce one of the largest ranges of acrylic colours currently available. I’ve used them for many years and have always been pleased with the quality and variety of their products.

Golden High Flow Acrylics offer an increase in durability of dry paint and a greater range of pigments.

The fine pigments are suitable for airbrushing and spraying, but are also suitable for refillable markers, calligraphy, ruling pens, and helping to create clean washes through pouring techniques.

Golden High Flow colours

I was sent two sets of colours to trial: one transparent set and one of assorted colours.

The transparent set comprised dioxazine purple, bezimidazolone yellow medium, napthol red light, phthalo blue (green shade), quinacridone red, transparent brown iron oxide, transparent red iron oxide, transparent yellow iron oxide and shading grey.

The set of mixed colours were burnt sienna, carbon black, quinacridone magenta, bezimidazolone yellow medium, quinacridone nickel azo gold, napthol red light, phthalo blue green shade, phthalo green blue shade, ultramarine blue and titanium white.

The acrylics are supplied in screw cap bottles. The screw-on lid needs to be removed initially and the protective seal underneath peeled off. Then, ensuring the lid is firmly screwed down, shaken thoroughly before use to make sure the pigments are evenly dispersed. The top can then be loosened and the paint poured out.

The acrylics are very runny, almost like ink. I used disposable paper plates to mix on although a white ceramic saucer would suffice.

Top tip: Ensure that brushes are thoroughly washed out afterwards as drying paint can easily wreck the filaments of an expensive brush.

Using the paints

Acrylics are normally irreversible so once dry they are difficult to remove or lift out. To remedy this I always hold a couple of sheets of clean kitchen towel to wipe away any unwanted marks before they have a chance to dry.

When using large wet washes, the drying time and behaviour is similar to that of watercolour.

Large expanses such as skies need to be applied with a large wet brush, otherwise hard edges can form which are difficult to remove or disguise.

Where to buy

Golden High Flow Acrylics can be purchased from Jackson's Art Supplies by clicking here and from art shops and other online retailers.

Test one - Lower Slaughter

Lower Slaughter, Golden High Flow Acrylics on 140lb paper, (25.5x35.5cm)

1. Starting with 140lb Two Rivers paper, I drew a scene from Lower Slaughter (see above) using a fine black Faber-Castell fibre-tipped drawing pen, and I chose a No. 8 nylon brush and a No. 2 Isabey squirrel brush to work with.
2. To achieve the honey colour of the Cotswold stone, I used transparent yellow iron oxide. This is quite a strong pigment and needs to be well diluted before applying.
3. Pre-wetting the sky, I applied it to the lower horizon then a slightly stronger version onto the cottage and middle ground. I finished at the stream, leaving the roadway as white paper.
4. There is phthalo blue and phtahlo green available, although these seem a little strong when mixing for grass and foliage. So using bezimidazolone yellow medium and ultramarine blue in varying proportions, I added in most of the green elements to the painting.
5. I found the shading grey colour very useful for creating shadows and darks. Added to ultramarine blue and a little quinacridone red, it was very useful for adding shadow throughout the painting.
6. The near roadway was painted using shading grey and ultramarine blue.
7. The titanium white has good covering power and was used on the frames of the windows and flow highlights in the ford.
8. To finish, I painted the finer details, such as fencing and distant branches using a steel dip pen and undiluted shading grey directly from the bottle.

Test two - Glazing techniques

Alms Houses, Chipping Campden, Golden High Flow Acrylics, (25.5x30.5cm)

1. Taking a sheet of Sennelier NOT 140lb watercolour paper, the next subject was Alms Houses, Chipping Campden (above).
2. As before, I washed diluted yellow iron oxide over the church and buildings then covered the entire sky area with a much more heavily diluted version of this pigment.
3. After letting the sky dry thoroughly, I rewetted the area with clean water, leaving the church and buildings untouched.
4. As the shine started to go from the paper, I introduced diluted ultramarine blue to which I’d added just a touch of dioxazine purple. In the lower sky I introduced a little more purple.
5. Adding quinacridone azo gold to the transparent yellow iron oxide gave a nice glow when added to the doorways and rooftops of the buildings.
6. The greens were all produced by mixing varying quantities of bezimidazolone yellow medium with ultramarine blue.
7. For the distant trees I painted into the wet washes varying the proportions from near yellow to almost blue.
8. Finally, I added the shadows using dioxazine purple and ultramarine blue. For the strong dark shadows behind the chimneys, I added a little carbon black to the mix.

Top tip

If the timing is right, the pigment feathers off into nice soft clouds and the underlying blush of yellow shows through to warm up the sky.

I find this technique much more successful with acrylic than watercolour as when using watercolour the underlying pigment tends to lift into the blue wash and can dull the finished painting.

Test three - Brancaster Harbour

Brancaster Harbour, Golden High Flow Acrylics, (25.5x35.5cm)

1. For the next painting I switched to Arches NOT 140lb watercolour paper and drew the entrance to Brancaster Harbour (above) using a fibre-tipped drawing pen.
2. The sky was painted using the same method as before.
3. Burnt sienna added to a touch of napthol red light gave a good red brick colour to the building on the entrance.
4. The large expanse of roadway was applied using a mix of shading grey and quinacridone azo gold, carefully leaving the puddles as white paper.
5. This subject had a lot of detail, which was painted with the fine brush.
6. The napthol red light was useful for the float and red buoy in the foreground.
7. Finally, the puddles were painted with a suggestion of what was being reflected above them.
8. I dragged a few titanium white horizontal lines over the darks in the puddles to suggest water.

Demonstration: Path to Rutland Water

Path to Rutland Water, Golden High Flow Acrylics, (23x33cm)

Path to Rutland Water was the last subject to try using a pouring technique.

I chose Sennelier Rough watercolour paper to allow some of the pigments to settle and granulate.

Step one

1. After drawing the scene with a brown fibre-tipped pen, I randomly wet the surface with a spray atomiser and poured diluted ultramarine blue onto the paper from a saucer.
2. Rocking the surface backwards and forwards the paint settled into an interesting pattern.

Step two

1. After allowing the surface to dry thoroughly, I applied homemade masking fluid by diluting Copydex adhesive in equal parts with water. This was applied to the paper surface with a No. 8 Round brush. (Rubbing a little hand soap into the bristles prolongs the life of the brush when using masking fluid.) I covered quite a large area, the sky, path and holes through the trees.
2. Taking another saucer I then poured diluted ultramarine blue and Bezimidazolone yellow light. This was manipulated on the paper surface by rocking and spraying water around the edges. Try to avoid using a brush as it mixes the paint too much resulting in a single, less interesting green.
3. Once the surface was completely dry, the masking fluid was removed with scrunched up kitchen roll. I found in the past that the masking fluid acts as an eraser with watercolour, lightening the pigment as it was removed and taking away any pencil lines. Using acrylic and ink lines meant that the pigment remained as strong as it had when it dried.
4. I added more masking fluid into the left-hand side then poured in a stronger mixture of phthalo blue and yellow.
5. While still wet I dripped bezimidazolone yellow into the paint directly from the bottle. After rocking the surface and allowing it to dry, the masking was removed.

Step three

Path to Rutland Water, Golden High Flow Acrylics, (23x33cm)

1. The painting was then finished in the traditional style using a No. 8 Round nylon brush. The foliage was painted using mixes of bezimidazolone yellow medium and ultramarine blue; I increased the depth of green by adding carbon black to the yellow/blue mix. To describe the light hitting the foliage, I applied undiluted Bezimidazolone yellow directly from the bottle onto the now dry poured foliage washes.
2. The fencing was transparent brown oxide. The foreground shadows were applied using a large squirrel and a mix of ultramarine blue and napthol red light. Grey shading on the water was added using diluted shading grey. The path prior to the application of shadow over it was painted with a mix of transparent yellow iron oxide and burnt sienna.
3. The distant horizon wasn’t level and needed correcting with titanium white. I added a few yachts against the mauve hillside.
4. The fine detail around the signage, branches and fencing were added at the end of the painting using a steel nibbed dip pen and worked directly from the bottles of acrylic.

About Tim Fisher

Visit www.timfisherartist.co.uk

Sometimes we may include links to online retailers, from which we might receive a commission if you make a purchase. Affiliate links do not influence editorial coverage and will only be used when covering relevant products.