Sunday, December 6, 2015

LIQUITEX WEEK 2

Hi Everyone,
 It is Sunday so that means Liquitex info!!!! I know some of this may seem like a lot of information but for me learning this has changed the way I use acrylic paints and I will say it has made a huge difference in my paintings color appearance. 
The science behind the paint.
Acrylic colors dry as a result of water evaporation Here’s what occurs as pigment, water, and
acrylic are transformed into a last-for-ages paint film:
step 1   Squeezed from the tube, or scooped from the jar, acrylic paint is a finely balanced
dispersion of pigment in an emulsion of acrylic polymer and water The water serves
to keep the emulsion liquid, and acts as a kind of chemical ‘chaperone’ preventing
the acrylic polymer particles from getting close and personal and locking up before
the artist is ready
step 2   When exposed to the atmosphere, water in the emulsion evaporates, or is absorbed
into the painting support That’s when the acrylic polymer particles come into direct
contact and fuse with each other
step 3   The polymer particles organize themselves into a stable, hexagonal structure,
trapping the pigment in place Bingo! The stable paint film










  It is important to note that acrylics should never be thinned with more than 25% water. Too much water will spread the acrylic resin thinly, and interfere with the formation of the stable film. Adding an Acrylic Medium, rather than water, helps maintain color brilliance and ensures that the paint film will remain stable. Do not mix with solvents, turpentine or oils. Mix only with other acrylic emulsion paints or mediums. Keep brushes wet. Cleaning brushes, hands and palette with soap and warm water. 
Clean dried acrylic brushes with acetone, or denatured alcohol. 
There is a lot more technical information but let's skip to the types of paint Liquitex carries.  
Soft body, Heavy body and Super Heavy body.  I use them all and do intermix them.

Soft Body Artist Color, previously referred to as Medium Viscosity, was the original
Liquitex® acrylic formulation first made in 1956 It is an extremely versatile artist paint,
creamy and smooth with a concentrated pigment load producing intense, pure color
The creamy smooth, pre-filtered consistency ensures good coverage, even-leveling
and superb results in a variety of applications and techniques 
 94 Professional Colors, heavy cream consistency , even leveling, extremely versatile formulation for most fine art and decorative art techniques. Soft body retains little or no brush marks .
Ideal for flat, large area coverage and fine line detail.
 Professional grade colors are available in tubes and jars. Can be intermixed with all Liquitex products.
The best part can be used on canvas or panel, fabric, faux finishing, glazing, under painting, mural, calligraphy, unfired ceramics, sculpture, screen printing, mono prints and block prints. Collage and mixed media, scrapbooking and altered books and let us not forget I use this soft body paint on my leather art.

Heavy Body Professional Artist Color, previously referred to as High Viscosity,has a thick consistency (similar to oil paint) for traditional art techniques using brushes or knives, as well as for experimental, mixed media, collage
and printmaking applications Impasto applications retain crisp brush stroke and knife marks Good surface drag provides excellent handling and blending characteristics with increased open/working time High pigment load produces
rich, brilliant, permanent color. There are 100 Professional Colors, exceptionally smooth, thick, buttery consistency. The paint retains brush strokes and palette knife marks. Great for thick/impasto applications and painting techniques.
 Flexible when dry; thick films remain free of cracks and chips and Intermixable with all Liquitex® products.


Super Heavy Body is a line of highly pigmented, clean, brilliant colors with  superior shape retention and unique “gutsy” handling. It is an innovative product introduced to the Liquitex® range in early 2004, and is excellent for ‘textural’ and
‘sculptural’ applications. Super Heavy Body has very low shrinkage from wet-to-dry and produces clean color mixes with outstanding clarity and brilliance. It is formulated to dry within a uniform satin sheen range, enhancing the visual clarity
of the finished painting, providing a non-plastic look and eliminating glare. Little or no wet-to-dry value shift allows for more accurate color mixing Increased open time for easier blending.

27 Professional Colors. Extra thick body with high surface drag (rheology), comparable to fine oils. Superior shape retention: holds super high peaks, knife marks and brush strokes. Flexible when dry, allowing built-up surfaces to remain free of cracks and chips/ Excellent for impasto (thick), ‘textural’ and ‘sculptural’ painting techniques. Satin finish, no “plastic look”
 Very low shrinkage, vibrant colors straight out of the container, slow drying time that allows more working (open) time. Intermixable with all Liquitex® products

I hope this has information has been helpful.
Nicole/Beadwright
Honor and Integrity in Life and Art

6 comments:

froebelsternchen said...

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing!
oxo
Susi

Valerie-Jael said...

Very interesting, lots of facts I did not know, thanks for sharing. Hugs, Valerie

Adam said...

I know some house painters will thin their acrylic/water-based paint out with paint thinner. Too much water is bad enough, but solvents are a no-no. I do like how water-based paints dry super-fast. The only advantage oil-based paints have in that area is they level-out better as they take longer to dry.

Craftymoose Crafts said...

Took me awhile to have enough time to come by and really read and appreciate this--very informative. Thanks!

Magic Love Crow said...

Thank you so much Nicole!!!! Truly appreciate you sharing this information!

Lisabella Russo said...

I enjoyed reading this Nicole. Thank you.