Make Friends with a Medium Today

Nowadays, people think of paint as colour, and the colour is the pigment, right?

But at one time, since artists made their own paint, they probably thought of it in terms of recipes: to achieve X colour, mix a given quantity of a pigment with a medium/binder by grinding on a slab with a muller (or something similar).

With the emergence of artists’ colour manufacturers and ready-made colours in prepacked convenient tubes or tubs, this “recipe” view of paint as a pigment/binder combo dropped from view amazingly quickly. Up to about a mere century and a half ago, artists (or, often their apprentices) made their own mixtures. Now, rare is the artist who 1) makes his/her own paint or 2) has apprentices!

With the coming of acrylics in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, the convenience view of paint became, in a way, even more entrenched in a lot of people’s minds. Solvent-free, easy-to-clean when wet, fast-drying, pre-mixed, permanent when dry… what more could you want? You can get on with your work without worrying about a lot of technical questions.

When you read about the development of acrylics, it is the problems early makers had with finding/making an acrylic resin binder that would give the properties they were looking for that gave them the most trouble. The pigments already largely existed; it was the medium or binder that had to be developed or invented.

In my experience, a lot of artist feedback about modern, ready-made paints unconsciously reflects their feelings about a paint’s binder rather than its hue, when they say such things as “I just love “Y” brand of paint, it has such a buttery consistency” or “I’m not a fan of “Z” brand, they’re too sticky.”

Curiously, it is in the field of acrylic paints that people may start returning to more of a recipe approach. Not with making the paint from scratch, but in modifying paint to achieve their own unique, signature look.

This is because acrylic paint makers have come up with more and better (and sometimes wilder) and more purpose-specific mediums.

Beginners often ask if they can thin acrylics with water, and yes, you can. I get the impression that this desire to use water for this purpose can be driven by economy and nervousness. The initial outlay to start working in any painting medium can be daunting, and the thought of figuring out which of the bewildering array of mediums to use can also be overwhelming.

But mediums are the best, for a number of reasons: you can change the paint’s consistency, surface characteristics, transparency/opacity, and more, without jeopardizing its adhesive properties or its permanence. You can use mediums to make the paint you have go further, perform differently as needed and more.

Not only that –in the long term, mediums will help you with your budget. Instead of going out and buying a whole new, different type of paint in a range of colours to produce different effects, you may only need to buy a medium.

Need to thicken your paint for extreme impasto? There’re mediums for that!
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...

Need to thin it down till it’s like ink? No problem!
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...

Want a finish on your paint that will show no brush strokes? You can get that with a medium.
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=browsecate...
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...

Is your acrylic paint drying too fast? Get a medium!
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=showproduc...

You can do more! See the link below to access information about all the mediums we have available.
https://store.opusframing.com/sagro/storefront/store.php?mode=browsecate...

Experiment, play, push on into uncharted territory! Make friends with your mediums, and your mediums will work magic for you!