I've been looking for a video comparing acrylic drying time with slow-dri medium vs retarder vs no medium at all, both thick and thin layers. I have no idea why there isn't such a video on youtube! your video answered my question a little bit. Thank you very much. I really like your videos.
Thank you very much for this video. It was extremely helpful. I am a new painter and learned everything on You Tube, watching people like yourself. The subject of mediums has puzzled me and I have bought a few just so that I can test them out and find out what they do. I have retarder, slo dri, flow medium, heavy gloss medium (which I haven't tried yet) and this week I bought some of Golden's glazing medium. Its great to get some detailed explanations from painters like yourself to explain this to us newbies :-)
Hi Michele, thanks for taking the time answering my question, Great idea; I'll get some small canvas boards to test and send you some results in the near future!
Black guesso really impressed me. I didn’t have to 2 a second coat, but I did only because I didn’t want to have it look uneven when it dried. I love the black and have done several paintings that I didn’t have to add to as much of the dark colors. It works perfect.
Great video. It answered some question that I had abt gesso. It also hammered 🔨 home the fact that I am of an age to remember the Summer of Love in Golden Gate Park and flashed back because of your trippy background. Thanks for the memory.
Thanks for all this information. Am I correct to say I can add regular acrylic (fluid or gel) medium to acrylic paint and use it for glazing? I suspect one disadvantage, which is that it won’t stay open as long as using a glazing medium.
Yes, you can use a gel or fluid gloss acrylic medium for glazing and you are correct that it will start to set up faster so you won't have as much working time as you would with glazing medium. But if you add 25% retarder to the gel or fluid mediums you will have a lot more working time. Thanks for watching!
Thank you, I paint on miniatures but the techniques are basically the same. Up until a week ago water was the only additive I used with acrylics water... and too much of it I now understand. This video really helped me understand the difference between mediums and a retardant. Also I'm probably going to go broke spending money on all these mediums to experiment with. So much to learn... :)
Great video! To keep my acrylic paint wet i just use Golden Open gel/medium. it works better than anything i have tried before! as for the Gesso. I mix white gesso to tint my colors. Its not as strong as Titanium white but its cheaper and more subtle. but now i prime and mix with White Latex paint primer for houses. Is it wrong to use House Primer as a mixing white? or gesso primer?
Hello Michele, Thank you for your video. Helps a lot. I am on "trial and error" and just go with the "flow" and try to figure things out as I go. I just have a totally different question. I have canvases, acrylic/oil paper roll (cutting it to size as needed), canvas pads etc. After painting - how do I store them? I used some canvas pads - and even after drying - some time later, they stick together. What is the best way to store them? Thanks, Alexandra
Nice video, Michele! Would you recommend Open or Regular Golden Acrylics? I'm currently a beginner and painting with liquitex basics, but looking to upgrade. One thing I don't love about acrylics is fast drying time on the palette and the mixes drying out before you get a chance to use them all. For that alone, I'm considering switching to Open. I'm using a wet pallet and it kinda fixes that issue, but to paint gets more and more diluted on water over time, so they tend to get a bit transparent. So, I think I wouldn't mind the Open paints being a little more transparent than normal because I already have to live with watered down paints. On the other hand, almost every serious acrylic painter seems to prefer the regular Heavy Body, so I'm stuck. Sorry about the long comment, but I'm need some advice here ! hahaha Thanks
Hi Michele, first of all, great informative videos. I have a question about the pouring medium. In most of your videos you use the Golden Fluids to mix with the pouring medium. I find these paints pretty expensive (im just a poor student ;) ) so I wanted to know the best way to make acrylic paints more fluid. Should I use water or should I use airbrush medium? Can I use acrylic paints mixed with airbrush medium with pouring medium? Greetings from The Netherlands, Tom
I'm painting an outdoor mural. I've ordered gloss medium to blend colors but after watching your video on glazes versus mediums it looks like glazes might work better for the effect I want. HOWEVER, I just noticed that whereas gloss medium (Nova) is fine for exterior use but glazing medium (Golden, etc) is recommended for interior use. Michele, any advice on this?
I watched your other video for using airbrush medium underneath acrylic paint. Some people also say that we should prepare the canvases with Gesso. Can we use the airbrush medium instead of Gesso to prepare the canvas? Or use as the top coat? Overall what you said by blocking with airbrush medium is basically the same as priming the canvases?
shibaak No, not really what she meant. (i think) Its more like filling your backround to cover more area and i suppose set up a base color like if you're painting a landscape like for instance a sunset, you'd want to lay out the main background colors then blend then go over it with the detail work to make thing easier and make it to where you're not having to go around small detail areas trying to be careful not to get paint where ots not wanted as well as make it to where youre not having to go back to cover any blank or white spots you missed and give a more finished look. At least thats what i do and how i use this method as well as how i took her explanations. I hope i a correct on that being what she was getting at. however it is what works for me so at least i know its not necessarily wrong info.lol people do tint their gesso and primers tho, so in that way its the same pretty much.lol i hope that makes sense.haha.
Thank you for all this info. Now, I really want to try and paint with the "Golden" paints because of finding out how long they stay "open.". Have been wanting to try them before, but, now knowing how long they stay "open," I *definitely* want to give them a try. TY again.
In general, you can safely mix two brands but the chemistry of pouring medium is kind of special. It is a non-crazing medium. Meaning special chemistry has been formulated so that the entire pour dries at the same rate. That means that the top layer will not dry before the interior of the paint film. Pouring medium is already a slow-drying medium. Retarder is designed to slow the drying time. So, I am curious why you want to slow the drying time of pouring medium? Since pouring medium takes so long to set up already and it’s self leveling so is not something you would able to manipulate further after pouring . That said, you may have a special purpose I haven’t thought of. And since you ask, it sounds like you have the two products and are trying to avoid purchasing another. Why not do an experiment yourself? There’s no harm in trying it out. I would love to know both your reasons for wanting to slow the pouring medium dry time, and your results! I believe this is at the heart of our practice, innovation and invention. It’s a wonderful question and opportunity to explore.
How do you get past the nervous feeling that you are going to miss up a painting that you are doing, like i was painting lightning and the background came out like i wanted to and its time to paint the lightning bolts and i get stuck so not to mess the picture up.and i freeze and lose confidence to continue?
Should I begin with a underpainting with all the values defined and glaze to finish the painting? Or start a painting with the local colors and add value?
So charming. And helpful , of course now I "need" really badly some glazing medium. Also I have used wallpaper glue as a retarder, worked well, do you disapprove? And if so why?
If you try to paint yellow over black you wont have lemons that look like lemons. Paint some white over the black area where the lemons will go. Then paint the lemons.
Yes! Great question. You can use the blending medium in place of retarder. It makes it a little easier for some because you don't have to worry about ratios with a medium. Curious why you wouldn't use a glazing medium for glazing? Thank you for watching.
Faux Effects makes a wonderful retarder, they call it an 'extender'. I love it as a retarder and I find I can use it as a glaze as well. Have tried other products, but this is my favorite.
I'm no Picasso but. I think you always start with the underpainting this way you can build your layers and create you lights and darks it gives the painting dimension .my opinion ,just sayin
I’m not familiar with a product called “Wetting Spray.” If it has acrylic polymer emulsion listed as primary ingredient you should be OK. If it’s more of a retarder then you will be potentially underbinding your paint film. See my video “Worst Mistake Acrylic Painters Make” for more info on this.
So... Why doesn't manufacturing just simply ADD retardant into the acrylic paint right at the start !?! * Wouldn't that make acrylic painting so much more hassle free ? * FURTHER MORE... while at that... just throw in the "glaze" as well... why not strive to create acrylic paint to mimic those B.E.U.TI.FUL OILS!? 😁👍🥰😘🤔
Excellent questions, Betty! There are as many ways to use acrylic paint as there are painters. Each person wants their materials to behave in a different way. The well known early adopters (Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Robert Motherwell, Thomas Hart Benton) used acrylic for its fast drying properties or its ability to create stains and smooth, flat layers of colors. Sounds like you are going for a more traditional oil look and it does that as well. You may like Golden's Open Acrylics for its slow drying quality. I LOVE glazing and used to have to have 16 oil paintings going at once because the glazes took so long to dry. With acrylics I could do several glazes in ONE Day! But not everyone wants transparent glazes. So to each her own. YOU get to decide how your paint looks and acts and I think that's a wonderful thing.
@@MicheleTheberge hi... Did you say GOLDENS OPEN Acrylics? Is that the name brand for the acrylic paint? That might be a paint that I would be interested in... is it very expensive? Thank you for your positive response... I would like to find an acrylic paint that actually mimics those vibrant oils !?! 😊🤔🥰🌈 I don't use oils for 2 reasons... SLOW DRYING and the brush cleansers.
To that kind of video I need someone to film me. Want to volunteer? I have several videos where from the classroom where I did get someone who was kind enough to film me. Please watch these videos on blending and glazing for examples. ruclips.net/video/1h1Hp73DCyk/видео.html ruclips.net/video/CaudurpFLAg/видео.html ruclips.net/video/41jL7QipDyk/видео.html Please know that although I have put thousands of volunteer hours into this channel over the past 10 years the small amount ad revenue doesn't cover hiring professional video crew as much as that would be great!
I've been looking for a video comparing acrylic drying time with slow-dri medium vs retarder vs no medium at all, both thick and thin layers. I have no idea why there isn't such a video on youtube! your video answered my question a little bit.
Thank you very much. I really like your videos.
Thank you very much for this video. It was extremely helpful. I am a new painter and learned everything on You Tube, watching people like yourself. The subject of mediums has puzzled me and I have bought a few just so that I can test them out and find out what they do. I have retarder, slo dri, flow medium, heavy gloss medium (which I haven't tried yet) and this week I bought some of Golden's glazing medium. Its great to get some detailed explanations from painters like yourself to explain this to us newbies :-)
Hi Michele, thanks for taking the time answering my question, Great idea; I'll get some small canvas boards to test and send you some results in the near future!
My pleasure! Looking forward to seeing your tests!
hi Michelle this answered so many questions for me thank you!
Black guesso really impressed me. I didn’t have to 2 a second coat, but I did only because I didn’t want to have it look uneven when it dried. I love the black and have done several paintings that I didn’t have to add to as much of the dark colors. It works perfect.
Great video. It answered some question that I had abt gesso. It also hammered 🔨 home the fact that I am of an age to remember the Summer of Love in Golden Gate Park and flashed back because of your trippy background. Thanks for the memory.
Thanks for all this information. Am I correct to say I can add regular acrylic (fluid or gel) medium to acrylic paint and use it for glazing? I suspect one disadvantage, which is that it won’t stay open as long as using a glazing medium.
Yes, you can use a gel or fluid gloss acrylic medium for glazing and you are correct that it will start to set up faster so you won't have as much working time as you would with glazing medium. But if you add 25% retarder to the gel or fluid mediums you will have a lot more working time. Thanks for watching!
Thank you, I paint on miniatures but the techniques are basically the same. Up until a week ago water was the only additive I used with acrylics water... and too much of it I now understand. This video really helped me understand the difference between mediums and a retardant. Also I'm probably going to go broke spending money on all these mediums to experiment with. So much to learn... :)
Great video! To keep my acrylic paint wet i just use Golden Open gel/medium. it works better than anything i have tried before! as for the Gesso. I mix white gesso to tint my colors. Its not as strong as Titanium white but its cheaper and more subtle. but now i prime and mix with White Latex paint primer for houses.
Is it wrong to use House Primer as a mixing white? or gesso primer?
Thank,s a lot,Michel! :)
Thank you, that answered several questions of mine. The little canvas boards are very inexpensive and helpful to test ideas...
Hello Michele, Thank you for your video. Helps a lot. I am on "trial and error" and just go with the "flow" and try to figure things out as I go. I just have a totally different question. I have canvases, acrylic/oil paper roll (cutting it to size as needed), canvas pads etc. After painting - how do I store them? I used some canvas pads - and even after drying - some time later, they stick together. What is the best way to store them? Thanks, Alexandra
Nice video, Michele! Would you recommend Open or Regular Golden Acrylics? I'm currently a beginner and painting with liquitex basics, but looking to upgrade. One thing I don't love about acrylics is fast drying time on the palette and the mixes drying out before you get a chance to use them all. For that alone, I'm considering switching to Open. I'm using a wet pallet and it kinda fixes that issue, but to paint gets more and more diluted on water over time, so they tend to get a bit transparent. So, I think I wouldn't mind the Open paints being a little more transparent than normal because I already have to live with watered down paints. On the other hand, almost every serious acrylic painter seems to prefer the regular Heavy Body, so I'm stuck. Sorry about the long comment, but I'm need some advice here ! hahaha Thanks
Hi Michele,
Is gloss medium the same as gloss varnish? I am just learning and am a bit confused on this.
Thank you for your help
Maria (Australia)
Great explanation, thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
Hi Michele, first of all, great informative videos. I have a question about the pouring medium. In most of your videos you use the Golden Fluids to mix with the pouring medium. I find these paints pretty expensive (im just a poor student ;) ) so I wanted to know the best way to make acrylic paints more fluid. Should I use water or should I use airbrush medium? Can I use acrylic paints mixed with airbrush medium with pouring medium? Greetings from The Netherlands, Tom
I'm painting an outdoor mural. I've ordered gloss medium to blend colors but after watching your video on glazes versus mediums it looks like glazes might work better for the effect I want. HOWEVER, I just noticed that whereas gloss medium (Nova) is fine for exterior use but glazing medium (Golden, etc) is recommended for interior use. Michele, any advice on this?
Michele, is there a medium you would suggest for my first medium? One that may more versatile for starting? Appreciate your videos :)
I watched your other video for using airbrush medium underneath acrylic paint. Some people also say that we should prepare the canvases with Gesso. Can we use the airbrush medium instead of Gesso to prepare the canvas? Or use as the top coat?
Overall what you said by blocking with airbrush medium is basically the same as priming the canvases?
shibaak No, not really what she meant. (i think) Its more like filling your backround to cover more area and i suppose set up a base color like if you're painting a landscape like for instance a sunset, you'd want to lay out the main background colors then blend then go over it with the detail work to make thing easier and make it to where you're not having to go around small detail areas trying to be careful not to get paint where ots not wanted as well as make it to where youre not having to go back to cover any blank or white spots you missed and give a more finished look. At least thats what i do and how i use this method as well as how i took her explanations. I hope i a correct on that being what she was getting at. however it is what works for me so at least i know its not necessarily wrong info.lol people do tint their gesso and primers tho, so in that way its the same pretty much.lol i hope that makes sense.haha.
What is going on in the background of this video? Why do the walls keep warping?
Yeah, it's trippy.
Thank you for all this info. Now, I really want to try and paint with the "Golden" paints because of finding out how long they stay "open.". Have been wanting to try them before, but, now knowing how long they stay "open," I *definitely* want to give them a try. TY again.
you look gorgeous in this video.
Could you use a slo dri blending medium as a glazing medium also? Thank you for this informative video!
Hello Michael
Can you combine golden retarder WITH golden glazing medium? This would give some binding to the retarder. This could be a nice combination??
Can I safely mix Golden Retarder and Liquitex Poring Medium? Two different brands. Thank you!
In general, you can safely mix two brands but the chemistry of pouring medium is kind of special. It is a non-crazing medium. Meaning special chemistry has been formulated so that the entire pour dries at the same rate. That means that the top layer will not dry before the interior of the paint film.
Pouring medium is already a slow-drying medium.
Retarder is designed to slow the drying time. So, I am curious why you want to slow the drying time of pouring medium? Since pouring medium takes so long to set up already and it’s self leveling so is not something you would able to manipulate further after pouring .
That said, you may have a special purpose I haven’t thought of. And since you ask, it sounds like you have the two products and are trying to avoid purchasing another. Why not do an experiment yourself? There’s no harm in trying it out. I would love to know both your reasons for wanting to slow the pouring medium dry time, and your results! I believe this is at the heart of our practice, innovation and invention. It’s a wonderful question and opportunity to explore.
How do you get past the nervous feeling that you are going to miss up a painting that you are doing, like i was painting lightning and the background came out like i wanted to and its time to paint the lightning bolts and i get stuck so not to mess the picture up.and i freeze and lose confidence to continue?
That is a great question. I think it deserves a whole video! Stay tuned for that!
Should I begin with a underpainting with all the values defined and glaze to finish the painting? Or start a painting with the local colors and add value?
Add value with the glazing you mean?
Can I paint over a painted canvas if I've already sealed it
w/ Kamaar Varnish?
Can I have some help. I have glazing medium from liquitex but it says it dries faster....i don't understand. I bought it thinking it would dry slower
So charming. And helpful , of course now I "need" really badly some glazing medium. Also I have used wallpaper glue as a retarder, worked well, do you disapprove? And if so why?
I love the 1'40" lol
By the way, can you tell me what is the glazing medium you prefer using? Thanks
If you try to paint yellow over black you wont have lemons that look like lemons. Paint some white over the black area where the lemons will go. Then paint the lemons.
Thank you!!!
You're welcome!
I want to make my own glazing paints. Can I substitute a slow dry blend medium for an acrylic retarder when I mix my paints?
Yes! Great question. You can use the blending medium in place of retarder. It makes it a little easier for some because you don't have to worry about ratios with a medium. Curious why you wouldn't use a glazing medium for glazing? Thank you for watching.
@@MicheleTheberge Thank you SO much- can you see my happy dance? I want to make my own because I have all the ingredients in house.
@@nexussever Excellent! Love your happy dance, too! It's so fun to be able to make your own.
Thanks so much, Michele... I love all of your videos! Merry Christmas! :)
Merry Christmas to you, Heather!
Great video! Thanks for all the answers. =D
Faux Effects makes a wonderful retarder, they call it an 'extender'. I love it as a retarder and I find I can use it as a glaze as well. Have tried other products, but this is my favorite.
Hello Christine
@@henryoliver3962 Hi Henry
@@ChristineThomas333 How are you doing today Christine ?
@@henryoliver3962 Great thanks and you? Are you an acrylic painter?
@@ChristineThomas333 I am doing great, and am really happy to know that you are ok, no am not an acrylic painter
Thank you
I'm no Picasso but. I think you always start with the underpainting this way you can build your layers and create you lights and darks it gives the painting dimension .my opinion ,just sayin
Thank you very much... that was really helpful :)
Can I use wetting spray instead of airbrush medium to do my under painting?
I’m not familiar with a product called “Wetting Spray.” If it has acrylic polymer emulsion listed as primary ingredient you should be OK. If it’s more of a retarder then you will be potentially underbinding your paint film. See my video “Worst Mistake Acrylic Painters Make” for more info on this.
I like the 4th dimension distortion artifacts in this video. Must have been some heavy dark matter showers that day - Subscriber number 48,001.
Thank You so very much :~) .
Is it me, or is the room behind you moving? I hope it's a curtain or something, otherwise I might be going crazy 😂
Thank you for sharing 😁
Haha! It's something with youtube. I noticed it too!
@@MicheleTheberge Ahh! That explains a lot 😂
So... Why doesn't manufacturing just simply ADD retardant into the acrylic paint right at the start !?!
* Wouldn't that make acrylic painting so much more hassle free ?
* FURTHER MORE... while at that... just throw in the "glaze" as well... why not strive to create acrylic paint to mimic those B.E.U.TI.FUL OILS!? 😁👍🥰😘🤔
Excellent questions, Betty! There are as many ways to use acrylic paint as there are painters. Each person wants their materials to behave in a different way. The well known early adopters (Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol, Robert Motherwell, Thomas Hart Benton) used acrylic for its fast drying properties or its ability to create stains and smooth, flat layers of colors. Sounds like you are going for a more traditional oil look and it does that as well. You may like Golden's Open Acrylics for its slow drying quality. I LOVE glazing and used to have to have 16 oil paintings going at once because the glazes took so long to dry. With acrylics I could do several glazes in ONE Day! But not everyone wants transparent glazes. So to each her own. YOU get to decide how your paint looks and acts and I think that's a wonderful thing.
@@MicheleTheberge hi...
Did you say GOLDENS OPEN Acrylics? Is that the name brand for the acrylic paint?
That might be a paint that I would be interested in... is it very expensive? Thank you for your positive response... I would like to find an acrylic paint that actually mimics those vibrant oils !?! 😊🤔🥰🌈
I don't use oils for 2 reasons... SLOW DRYING and the brush cleansers.
Get some examples to show
To that kind of video I need someone to film me. Want to volunteer? I have several videos where from the classroom where I did get someone who was kind enough to film me. Please watch these videos on blending and glazing for examples. ruclips.net/video/1h1Hp73DCyk/видео.html ruclips.net/video/CaudurpFLAg/видео.html ruclips.net/video/41jL7QipDyk/видео.html Please know that although I have put thousands of volunteer hours into this channel over the past 10 years the small amount ad revenue doesn't cover hiring professional video crew as much as that would be great!
bla bla bla bla bla bla