Acrylic Painting

Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylicpolymeremulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry.

Acrylics dry rapidly and are capable of giving both the transparent brilliance of watercolour and the density of oil paint. They are considered to be less affected by heat and other destructive forces than is oil paint.

Acrylics are very useful in mixed media, allowing the use of pastel (oil and chalk), charcoal and pen (among others) on top of the dried acrylic painted surface. Mixing other bodies into the acrylic is possible—sand, rice, and even pasta may be incorporated in the artwork. Mixing artist or student grade acrylic paint with household acrylic emulsions is possible, allowing the use of premixed tints straight from the tube or tin, and thereby presenting the painter with a vast color range at their disposal. This versatility is also illustrated by the variety of additional artistic uses for acrylics. Specialized acrylics have been manufactured and used for linoblock printing (acrylic block printing ink has been produced by Derivan since the early 1980s), face painting, airbrushing, watercolor-like techniques, and fabric screen printing.

Because of these multi attributes, and advantages of acrylic paints, it has become immensely popular among the contemposary artists.