Acrylic paint

Interior latex house paints tend to be a combination of binder (sometimes acrylic, vinyl, PVA, and others), filler, pigment, and water.

As early as 1934, the first usable acrylic resin dispersion was developed by German chemical company BASF, and patented by Rohm and Haas.

Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco were the first ones who experimented with acrylic paint.

He took to the new synthetic plastic bases that commercial paints were beginning to use and soon got help from manufacturers like ICI, Courtaulds, and Geigy.

But they quickly recognised the potential demand and "so Ribeiro became the godfather of generations of artists using acrylics as an alternative to oils.

[12] In 1963, George Rowney (part of Daler-Rowney since 1983) was the first manufacturer to introduce artists' acrylic paints in Europe, under the brand name "Cryla".

Acrylics can be used on paper, canvas, and a range of other materials; however, their use on engineered woods such as medium-density fiberboard can be problematic because of the porous nature of those surfaces.

[16] Artists use removable varnishes over isolation coat[17] to protect paintings from dust, UV, scratches, etc.

Acrylics can be applied in thin layers or washes to create effects that resemble watercolors and other water-based mediums.

Acrylic paints are also used in hobbies such as trains, cars, houses, DIY projects, and human models.

For this reason, acrylics do not lend themselves to the color lifting techniques of gum arabic-based watercolor paints.

Some brands exhibit a range of finishes (e.g. heavy-body paints from Golden, Liquitex, Winsor & Newton and Daler-Rowney); Politec acrylics are fully matte.

If desired, the artist can mix different media with their paints and use topcoats or varnishes to alter or unify sheen.

Acrylic paint can be removed from nonporous plastic surfaces such as miniatures or models using cleaning products such as Dettol (containing chloroxylenol 4.8% v/w).

Acrylic paint contains surfactants that can pull up discoloration from a raw canvas, especially in transparent glazed or translucent gelled areas.

[23][24] The viscosity of acrylic can be successfully reduced by using suitable extenders that maintain the integrity of the paint film.

There are retarders to slow drying and extend workability time, and flow releases to increase color-blending ability.

Oil provides a refractive index that is less clear than acrylic dispersions, which imparts a unique "look and feel" to the resultant paint film.

Not all the pigments of oil paints are available in acrylics and vice versa, as each medium has different chemical sensitivities.

It usually takes 10–20 minutes for one to two layers of acrylic paint to dry, depending on the brand, quality, and humidity levels of the surrounding environment.

In order to create lighter or darker colors with acrylic paints, one adds white or black.