Open Acrylic Paints are a paint that has the ease of use you find with acrylics, and the slow drying quality you might find with Oil. This makes them an amazingly diverse paint. Its quick to clean up, easy to use, and (depending on how thick you apply it) will allow you the time to blend and paint Into the paint. Oh technology, how you continue to provide! Lets take a look at the kind of work you can achieve with this medium.
When I first saw the work of Sarah Finnigan I could not believe that these were painted in Acrylic Paint… they are oil for sure, right? It turns out, She is an avid Open Acrylics Enthusiast. Check out her website here to see more amazing pieces!
Here are some of my own experiments with Open Acrylic paint and a few reasons why I choose to use them.
I personally use open acrylic paint to create some of my larger format paintings. It gives me the time to cover the space I want without everything drying out. So I can put down shapes and values and still play with how they interact.
so why not oils?
Oils are not out of the question, but as a Father of 2 small children it has become very important for me to be able to be able to clean up quickly. Open acrylics for me are the way that I can use something that acts a lot like oil, but abandon my practice when a child screams out, or I can only paint for a few minutes at a time. Just wash the brushes out with water for a minute and head out the door. Or come in, pick up the paint and start working without playing around with poisonous paint thinners that my kids could get their hands into.