WHY USE ACRYLICS?

You want to learn to paint or just utilize some paint in your crafts or multimedia projects but you aren’t sure which paint will work the best.  Acrylics is a versatile paint. Let’s go over the pros and cons of acrylic paint.

 Acrylics are versatile.  Acrylic can be used on many different surfaces; canvas, wood, glass, fabric, paper, rocks, etc.  Acrylics are water based.  Clean up of your brushes and hands is a breeze.  You can add water to acrylics to create a watercolor effect.  It’s not as toxic as most paints, making it safer around children and pets.  It’s affordable and is available in small bottles and tubes so you don’t have to purchase more than you need.  Acrylics are durable.  Once dry they are water resistant and don’t crack, peel or change colors.  The colors are vibrant.  Acrylic paints can be mixed with different mediums to change the texture, stop them from drying quickly, thicken them and so on. 

There are a few cons when working with acrylics.  It dries fast.  This can be great if we want to get a project done quickly but it can also get in the way when our techniques call for paint to stay wet on our medium.  It’s difficult to remove from fabric but also brushes or basically anything once it dries.  The paint also becomes darker when it dries.  It may help to have a blow dryer handy if you want to check the “dry” color but, in time, you will be able to judge how the paint will look dry when you mix it.

Although there are a few cons, acrylics are a great versatile paint, especially for the beginner.