What’s Your Medium?

For my artists out there and my beginners, trying out new painting mediums can be an exciting thing. I, personally, have dabbled in just about every medium and found that I love to use acrylics over the latter. For you who don’t really know what mediums are out there you can try, here is a list of the most popular.

1.      Oils

2.      Acrylics

3.      Pastels

4.      Watercolors

Pros and Cons of Oil Paint

Pros

Oils are a great medium when it comes to blending paints together. The drying time is longer so you can edit mistakes made on the canvas using a towel or paint thinner like turpentine.  Overlaying colors and textures of paint is also made easy with oil paint medium.

Cons

The biggest con to oil paint medium, the main reason I don’t use it to paint is the drying time. Of course there are mediums out there that will assist the oil paint in drying faster but it still takes a bit. If oil paint dries too quickly it will crack leaving you with an undesirable finish.  Another downer about oil medium is the smell. Using turpentine is needed; it acts as water does for watercolor and acrylic paint. There are some thinners with less odor out there but there will still be an odor.

Pros and Cons of Acrylics

Pros

Acrylic paint medium is fast drying and easy to use. Unlike oil paint medium you don’t have to worry about harsh odor thinners. Because acrylic paint is a water base paint it can be thinned out with water. Blending and adding texture to paintings is also possible with this medium. It is odorless and versatile. You can thin it down to copy the effect of watercolors, it you so desire.

Cons

Acrylic paint fast drying can make it a little more difficult to blend colors together as easily as oil paint medium. Purchasing a blending gel medium will help stretch the drying time allowing you to blend.

Pros and Cons of Pastels

Pros

Pastels are all in their own park. It is chalk-like in appearance and distributes itself a lot like chalk does. It is simple to work with and can be used to sketch as well as paint. You can use a little water on a brush to blend colors together or your finger. With this medium there isn’t any drying time to worry about.

Cons

Pastels can be a bit messy. The particles tend to get all over the place just like chalk does. Blending it is a lot more difficult to achieve, but it can be done. You won’t be able to do texture applications with this medium.

Pros and Cons of Watercolor

Pros

Watercolor is a fast drying medium. There is no need for extra mediums to blend color; using water is all you need. The finish to watercolor is light and smooth. Colors can be made more vibrant with the use of less water. Overlaying colors and shading areas is made easy with this medium. It can be mixed with other mediums like acrylic paint mediums.

Cons

Watercolors can leave a painting looking sort of washed out. If that is what appeals to you about watercolors then this is for you.  You also will not achieve the same depth of color that oils and acrylic paint has.

Now that you know the basic facts about these popular mediums go out purchase the one that fascinates you and try it out for yourself. Who knows, it may be a match in heaven.