Painting tips for beginners-How to keep acrylics soft

A crylic paints can be used in several ways: They can be used diluted with water, instead of watercolors because acrylics can resemble watercolors - yet they dry dark not light like watercolors. A great advantage is that acrylics are water-resistant when dry and can be overpainted without disturbing previous colors. Acrylics can also be used straight from the tube, as an alternative to oil paint because acrylics dry much faster than oil paints. Like oils, acrylics allow you to create a considerable variety of surface or textural effects, retain the impression of the brush or knife. The appearance, hardness, flexibility, texture, and other characteristics of the paint surface can be modified by using acrylic mediums. The greatest quality of acrylics is also the biggest problem: they dry too fast! Let's see how can we keep acrylic paint moist and workable? You can keep the paints on your palette from drying out by using several techniques:

1. The easiest is to keep a spray bottle handy and spray a mist of water over the paint and dampen the canvas or paper while painting. 2. If you need to blend your colors you can add a few drops of acrylic retarding agents to lengthen the drying time of acrylics. This way you can improve the flow of your acrylic paint too. It is recommended to limit its use to the upper layers of detail, rather than underpainting. Extending the drying time too much has no logic; it would be the same disadvantage as with oil paints. 3. Using a special "stay wet" palette from the market or you can make your own moisture-retaining palettes with the exact size you want and with no costs, keeping your acrylic paints soft for days. In my next post I want to share with you how to make a cheap moisture-retaining palette. Happy painting till than!