Yesterday I decided to play with my small test tubes of the new(ish?) Golden Open acrylics. Yes, play 😉 and picking some new to me colours as well, india yellow and sap green, with white and ultramarine. I’ve been feeling that I sometimes want to get away from the very bright carnival colours without going brown and grey, you know?
The Open series are supposed to dry slower than regular acrylic paint, but without the smell of the oil and turpentine. As well as staying wet on the palette even overnight.
And they do take their time drying. But it seems that they get sticky with the brush just as fast as the others, or nearly so, and then just stay that way – forever. In fact one canvas done with medium is still slightly sticky this morning. What I was looking to get was a fairly long blending time on the canvas with no brush tracks. Copious amounts of medium helped a bit, but also worked as a glaze. I did a couple of washes with and one “abstract” background without. Just randonly picking up paint, apply, pick up more and try to blend the two areas.
So I wondered if anyone out there had another or the same experience? I don’t mind the longer waiting time as long as I get the longer working time, but one without the other seems pointless. Or is it the no skinning and palette useability that is the actual deal? The pamphlet says “can be reconstituted for a period of time (an hour) once set, using water, fresh paint or mediums.”
I’m looking for something to replace my W&N Galeria when they run out or get to sluggish and it seems Golden is all the rage these days. I already have a hard time squeezing them out of the bottles compared to the couple of newer tubes I have, and thought perhaps that’s why I was experiencing stickyness. The sample Golden Fluids I have do the same though.
Maybe I’m just working too big a surface. (50×50 cm in this case) Doodling away in one small corner works very well if you have your painting all planned, but not if you’re just going to wave your arms a bit and see what happens. Remember, I’m trying to learn to be intuitive about it. Absolutely almost non-thinking. Sometimes I think you have to visit all the extremes to find your middle ground?
So today I’ll try fewer colours in the first round wave, when it begins to get sticky I’ll go at it with fresh paint and water (I thought I was doing that yesterday, but….) Maybe I use too thin layers. Will have to test a thick coat in one corner. (having only those very small tubes)
