Mixing acrylic and oil techniques 438 by Allen Shellabarger on 04/06/01 at 10:29 AM
Mixing acrylic and oil techniques

With all the options available to the oil painter in terms of modifiers to mediums and paints, why on earth would anyone wish to combine acrylic and oil painting techniques? Why would anyone wish to use acrylics at all? The refractive index differences between the two media alone would be enough to put me off. If you want your paint to dry quickly, use amber, or copal mediums. A little (very little) lead drier will make the paint films dry even faster as will putting them in the sun (from the warmth speeding up chemical reactions, not through evaporation! Personally I don't think the difference is that great). If you really need the extremely fast (virtually instantaneous) drying time of acrylics, why use oil at all? I challenge anyone to come close to the effects possible in oils with acrylics! I have heard, although not confirmed, that early acrylic works in museums are in sad shape (fallling off the canvas). Whether newer acrylic formulations will be subject to the same fate is UNKNOWN! We have about five-hundred years of experience with oils. They work: if it isn't broken, don't fix it! Good luck.


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Post a Followup 438"> Allen Shellabarger"> ashellabarger_hotmail.comMixing acrylic and oil techniques_04/06/01 at 10:29"Re: Mixing acrylic and oil techniques"
: With all the options available to the oil painter in terms of modifiers to mediums and paints, why on earth would anyone wish to combine acrylic and oil painting techniques? Why would anyone wish to use acrylics at all? The refractive index differences between the two media alone would be enough to put me off. If you want your paint to dry quickly, use amber, or copal mediums. A little (very little) lead drier will make the paint films dry even faster as will putting them in the sun (from the warmth speeding up chemical reactions, not through evaporation! Personally I don't think the difference is that great). If you really need the extremely fast (virtually instantaneous) drying time of acrylics, why use oil at all? I challenge anyone to come close to the effects possible in oils with acrylics! I have heard, although not confirmed, that early acrylic works in museums are in sad shape (fallling off the canvas). Whether newer acrylic formulations will be subject to the same fate is UNKNOWN! We have about five-hundred years of experience with oils. They work: if it isn't broken, don't fix it! Good luck.

 
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