This is just an English paper that I wrote recently, that I thought would be worth posting here as it is a mildly informative paper on paint. Tell me if it's too horrible or boring


     There are several different types of acrylic paints, each with its own unique properties. I will focus on the three main types of acrylic paints that are used for fine arts. These three paints are: the original acrylic paint, Golden Paint's "Open" acrylics, and acrylic gouache.

     Original acrylic paint is, in my opinion, the most commonly used of the three paints I am talking about. It was developed in the early 1950's by Leonard Bocour and Sam Golden, under the brand Magna Paint. Their acrylic paint became the favorite medium of many artists due to its fast drying time, ease of use, and affordability. It is a very versatile medium and can be used in more ways than any other. It can be diluted, thickened, blended, layered, and even used as a modeling paste.

     Golden Paint, founded by Sam Golden, created an acrylic paint that dries slowly like oil-based paints. This slow drying paint, which Golden Paint named "Open" acrylics, was invented within the last few years. This "Open" acrylic paint can be used for many oil techniques, such as: oil blending, glazing, and washes of colour. Drying time for this paint can take almost two weeks. It will stay wet on the palette for a day and a half, compared to regular acrylics which only stay wet for an hour and a half.

     Acrylic gouache is an acrylic-based paint that behaves like an opaque, watercolour paint. Its only differences from watercolour are: It is waterproof when dry, it is opaque, and it can be painted in thicker layers than watercolours. Artists frequently use acrylic gouache to paint outdoors because it is opaque enough to cover mistakes, but still has a watercolour appearance. One of the disadvantages of using acrylic gouache over watercolours is that this paint dries a different colour than the wet paint. This makes it difficult to match previously used paint colours when painting over multiple sessions.

     These three acrylic paints are very different, but each has its own purpose. One of these paints may suite an artist's painting style more than others.  It is entirely up to the artist which one they will use.