Special thanks to Chroma Acrylics for providing information, photos and video links.
Acrylic artists have never before had the opportunity to
blend and adjust their paintings wet-in-wet within a time frame they
can control, but this advantage involves new processes that need to be
learned and followed.
One of the attractions of acrylics has always been speed. Therefore, it
is important that in extending working time the ability to do things
quickly is not lost, particularly for artists who have developed
successful techniques for overcoming the problems of fast drying
paints. Otherwise in choosing Interactive you would burden yourself
with new, slow processes to learn and lose the techniques you have
already mastered to your satisfaction.
Interactive moves the balancing point which controls drying.
With Chroma Atelier Interactive Acrylic paints and mediums, extended wet-in-wet painting is now possible. However when you want
your painting to dry quickly to allow fast layering techniques, use
Fast Medium Fixer. The new paint also behaves traditionally when you use Modelling
Compound, Impasto Gel or Binder Medium. Acrylic artists who use these
mediums want to get on to the next stage as quickly as possible.
Chroma Atelier Interactive Acrylic, as it comes from the tube, is balanced to
allow you to work wet-in-wet for as long as you need to, but to make
this happen you must replace water being lost through evaporation.
A water sprayer is the easiest way to replace lost moisture. Click here to view a video showing how to use a water sprayer with Interactive.
A water spray is the easiest way to do this, but it is difficult to
keep a large painting activated this way and there are people who
just dont want to use a spray. In this situation using Slow Medium
helps. The dampness or dryness of your painting is just one more thing you
need to attend to. The need to continually watch this aspect is greatly
reduced if you use Slow Medium, which increases the time frame for
working the paint. Even paint which seems dry will reactivate, either
with the water spray or simply by working fresh, wet paint into it. The curing process takes a little longer when you use Slow Medium,
but curing in a warm dry place only takes 2-3 days resulting in a onventional acrylic painting.
Gain new technique advantages when using Atelier Interactive with two key mediums.
You
can use fast techniques in your underpainting and explore Interactive
blending as you complete your work, where the extra time available
should quickly translate into greater subtlety and complexity in your
work.
Slow Medium increases the time frame for working the paint. Even paint which seems dry will reactivate. Click Here for a video about using slow medium to paint wet-in-wet
Slow medium will allow you to explore the blending processes without having to
be too aware of the wetness state of your painting. It is needed for
large paintings or for very dry conditions, such as painting outdoors.
It will give you a full day of wet paint blending when used in
conjunction with water spray. If you paint in sessions of about 3 hours and your paintings are
small enough to be able to reach with a spray, you may find as you get
more used to it that you dont need the Slow Medium as much.
More artists are now using Interactive and we hope that we have
reached the stage where most of the processes have been resolved. Information is terribly important with any unfamiliar situation.
When you use the right information Interactive becomes easy to handle. Atelier Interactive does deliver on its promises, but we realise
that sometimes monitoring wetness and using a spray could be a
stumbling block. Using Slow Medium removes the problems by giving you
more time to adjust, while using Fast Medium/Fixer gives you quick
access to the traditional fast techniques you are used to and may
want to keep.
Important! Please read about these other Chroma Atelier Interactive acrylic mediums...
Download the Chroma Atelier Interactive Acrylic - Guide to grounds and mediums!
Download: Atelier Guide to grounds and mediums v1_1.pdf
File Size: 1.25 MB (You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer)
Chroma Atelier Interactive Clear Painting MediumCan be used to prevent runs in diluted paint applied vertically on
an easel. It is used with the paint to dilute the viscosity and blend
colours. This medium allows paint to spread over a surface for more
blendable gradations of colour and fast glazing techniques.
Chroma Atelier Interactive Fast Medium/Fixer
Used to fix layers of paint fast especially when wanting to achieve
multiple layers of glazing. Also useful when you want to reinforce a
tender layer in preparation for scratch back and scraping techniques.
Returns Interactive to a more conventional acrylic.
Chroma Atelier Interactive Unlocking Formula
Allows artists to reopen a paint layer even after being touch-dry.
Once the paint is reopened, new paint can be blended back in, existing
paint edges can be feathered or whole sections can be removed with a
rag. Can also be used to further extend wet blending time.
Chroma Atelier Interactive Retarder
Chroma Atelier Interactive Slow Medium should used with Chroma Atelier Interactive acrylic paints. Retarder should,
in our experience, only be used as a 10% addition to your water spray
in extremely dry conditions.
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