Amazing Mediums to Try Right Now
Mediums Elevate Your Paints
I’m sure that as an artist you have a love of paint. You may have a favorite brand or type, and you may have more tubes of color than you can shake a stick at. Don’t we all love collecting new tubes of gorgeous paint?
However, mediums allow you to get more from your paints. They can go farther and be more versatile. While bottles of medium are not as “sexy” on the store shelf, I’d like to recommend three for you to try. They’re worth adding to your art supplies!
Golden Glazing Liquid
Golden Glazing Medium is a miraculous medium that allows you to make your acrylic paints very fluid and transparent, creating a stained-glass or veil type of effect. You can create glazes that are similar to oil painting, and you can blend colors together beautifully. This medium also increases the gloss of your paint.
Golden Glazing Medium works as an extender, so your paints stay wetter longer. Please note that because it makes acrylics so fluid, there may be bleeding on absorbent surfaces or make it hard to create sharp edges. But you simply must experiment with this medium—I think you’ll be hooked!
Golden Light Molding Paste
Have you ever tried a molding paste? Molding pastes are opaque mediums that come in several varieties such as Hard, Light, Course, etc. The purpose of molding pastes is to create texture, from gentle ripples to stiff peaks and even large 3-D textures.
I recommend that you try Golden Light Molding Paste because it gives you great texture and can easily be blended with acrylics to create exciting texture over large surfaces. This product has the consistency of mousse. When you blend it with your acrylic paints, you’ll be able to see the peaks created by each stroke of your painting knife.
Utrecht Professional Acrylic Gesso
OK, I know that you’re no stranger to gesso. I’m sure you use it all the time to prime your painting surfaces and sometimes as a substitute for white paint. But I’ve found over time that one gesso rules them all: Utrecht Professional Gesso.
What’s the difference between the “studio” gessos and the “professional” gessos? The ingredients! Studio grade gessos contain a cheaper acrylic binder and poorer quality additives. The result is a cheaper product that serves some people well. However, professional-grade gessos such as Ultrecht Professional Gesso contains Titanium Dioxide to give you a sharp white color that provides excellent coverage. It also contains a high-quality polymer binder that provides you with the perfect surface, whether you choose to sand your surface or not.
You may be surprised at the thickness of this gesso. Yep, it’s like paint! You can water it down to suit your needs or use it straight out of the bucket.
Mediums Are the Behind-the-Scenes Heroes
While the paints get all the glory, the mediums (like the three I outlined above) are the true heroes. They provide the perfect platform for the paints (gesso) and they allow the paints to be truly transformed (glazing liquid and molding paste). If you haven’t tried these three mediums, prepare to have a transformation!
I’d love to hear from you about which new medium you’d like to try. Do you have a favorite medium? Please share it in the comments below.
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