Every artist has tools they return to — the reliable few that elevate every painting session. GOLDEN’s Studio Essentials aren’t about having “more stuff”; they’re about having the right materials that expand your control, unlock new techniques, and give confidence in your process. Here are eight products that professional artists rely on — and how they’ll change the way you paint.
1. Gesso: Build a Strong Foundation
Gesso is where it all begins. More than a primer, it’s the structure that holds your work for years to come. GOLDEN Gesso is flexible, toothy, and highly pigmented. Applied in multiple thin layers (sanded smooth or left textured), it creates a stable surface that grips paint just right.
Pro tip: Don’t rush this stage. Let each coat cure fully before painting. Artists who take the time here avoid cracking and delamination later. Save time by purchasing a canvas that have base layering already completed.
GOLDEN Gesso
A foundation no studio can skip. GOLDEN Gesso is flexible, highly pigmented, and creates the ideal “toothy” ground for acrylics, oils, and mixed media. At Opus, you’ll find it in multiple sizes — from smaller jars perfect for students and small works, to 946ml and gallon pails for professional prep.
Available in White, Black, and Clear. White gives maximum opacity, Black is useful for high-contrast underpaintings, and Clear allows the surface (like wood or patterned grounds) to show through.
2. Fluid Matte Medium: The Invisible Transformer
Think of Fluid Matte Medium as the behind-the-scenes problem-solver. It extends paint, reduces gloss, and improves flow without weakening film strength. Use it for transparent layers, image transfers, or leveling surfaces.
Artist insight: A thin glaze of Fluid Matte Medium over an entire canvas can reduce absorbency, giving you more open time and smoother blends in later layers.
GOLDEN Fluid Matte Medium
This translucent, leveling medium modifies sheen and flow without diluting strength. Available in 8oz, 16oz, and 32oz bottles at Opus, it’s designed for extending paint, glazing, and image transfer techniques.
Part of GOLDEN’s Fluid Mediums line, Matte specifically reduces sheen — making it useful when you want depth without glare.
3. Gloss Glazing Liquid: Time on Your Side
Acrylics are notorious for drying fast. Gloss Glazing Liquid slows things down, giving you a 10–15 minute window for blending and glazing. It also adds depth and translucency, making it invaluable for luminous passages of color.
Many professionals switch from Matte Medium to Glazing Liquid mid-painting — starting fast to block in shapes, then slowing down for detail work and transitions.
GOLDEN Gloss Glazing Liquid
Slow-drying and versatile, this medium is available at Opus in 8oz and 16oz bottles. It extends working time up to 10–15 minutes, perfect for blending and building luminous glazes.
Offered in Gloss and Satin finishes. Gloss maximizes clarity and depth of color; Satin provides a softer, more subtle finish.
4. Heavy Body – Benzimidazolone Yellow Medium: The Heart of Your Palette
This yellow (PY154) is a modern workhorse — pure, lightfast, and intense. Its role isn’t just to shine on its own, but to anchor your color mixing. Because it’s single-pigment and balanced between warm and cool, it creates clean secondaries without unexpected undertones.
With Ultramarine Blue, it makes stable, natural greens.
With Magenta, it mixes into vibrant oranges and reds.
With Titanium White, it produces bright, reliable tints.
Having a dependable “reference yellow” means your palette stays consistent from canvas to canvas. It becomes the colour you calibrate everything else against.
GOLDEN Heavy Body Acrylic – Benzimidazolone Yellow Medium
This single-pigment modern yellow (PY154) is prized for its intensity, lightfastness, and mixing reliability. At Opus, you’ll find it in the Heavy Body range — tubes from 59ml up to 150ml depending on stock.
Heavy Body offers the thickest consistency, retaining brush and knife marks. For artists who prefer flow, the same pigment is also found in GOLDEN’s Fluid and OPEN lines.
5. Soft Gel Gloss: Texture Meets Transparency
Soft Gel Gloss is as versatile as it gets — an extender, adhesive, and glazing medium all in one. It holds soft peaks, creates translucent depth, and bonds collage elements with strength.
Many artists mix Soft Gel into Heavy Body colors to build subtle impasto that still lets light through, avoiding the opacity of thick pastes.
GOLDEN Soft Gel Gloss
An all-purpose medium available at Opus in 8oz, 16oz, and 32oz jars. It extends paint, adds translucency, holds soft peaks, and doubles as a collage adhesive.
Comes in multiple viscosities (Soft, Regular, and Heavy). Soft Gel is the most versatile — fluid enough for glazing but strong enough for texture and adhesion. Gloss finish maximizes luminosity.
6. Fluid Ultramarine Blue: Versatility in Motion
One of the most beloved pigments in history, Ultramarine Blue in GOLDEN’s Fluid formula flows like ink but holds the punch of a full-strength paint. Use it for glazing, staining, or precise brushwork.
Pair it with Benzimidazolone Yellow Medium for greens, or glaze it over warm underpaintings to create atmospheric depth without heaviness.
GOLDEN Fluid Acrylic – Ultramarine Blue
A studio staple in a fluid format. Ultramarine Blue is a single-pigment classic with rich chroma and smooth flow. At Opus, Fluid Acrylics are stocked in 30ml and 118ml bottles, designed to deliver full pigment load with a watercolor-like consistency.
Fluid Acrylics maintain the pigment strength of Heavy Body but in pourable viscosity. Ideal for glazing, staining, and fine detail.
7. High Flow Carbon Black: Precision, Signed
High Flow paints act like acrylic ink — perfect for brushes, dip pens, markers, or airbrush. Carbon Black is the essential: smooth, opaque, and permanent. Many artists use it for signing their work, knowing it will hold crisp detail over any surface.
Keep it handy for the finishing touch — those definitive marks or signatures that claim the painting as yours.
GOLDEN High Flow Acrylic – Carbon Black
High Flow Carbon Black acts like ink but with acrylic permanence. At Opus, you’ll find it in 30ml bottles with nozzle caps and 118ml refill bottles. Perfect for brushes, markers, pens, and airbrush applications.
The High Flow line includes a full spectrum of colors, but Carbon Black is the most essential — highly opaque and useful for everything from line work to signing finished artwork.
8. OPEN Titanium White: Stretching Time
White is more than a highlight; it’s the pigment that unlocks your value range. In the OPEN formula, Titanium White slows your whole palette, giving you oil-like blending windows while tinting colors. Perfect for gradients, subtle shifts in light, and soft-edged forms.
You can also try using OPEN White in mixes to balance dry time without slowing your painting process.
GOLDEN OPEN Acrylic – Titanium White
OPEN Titanium White is available in 59ml tubes and 150ml tubes at Opus. It extends your working time, offering oil-paint–like blending with the convenience of acrylics.
OPEN colors dry much more slowly than Heavy Body or Fluid, making them ideal for blending and soft transitions. Use OPEN Titanium White in combination with standard acrylics to selectively increase working time without slowing down your whole palette.
Why These Eight Matter
Individually, each product solves a problem — from surface prep to mixing control, texture, translucency, and time management. Together, they form a toolkit that gives you both freedom and consistency. They don’t just change how you paint; they change your relationship with the materials themselves.
At Opus, we believe in building a studio on essentials you can trust. These eight GOLDEN products are more than supplies — they’re the foundation of a professional practice.