When was acrylic paint first used

As time passed, manufacturers improved methods by formulating artistic acrylic paints with richer pigments. Although it has proven versatile in artistic endeavors, acrylic as a medium is still in its infancy.

For many contemporary artists, acrylic became the perfect vehicle to drive their crafts. Offering a range of possibilities, acrylic can produce both the soft effects of watercolor paint and sharp effects of layered oil paint.

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Clay Plaster Tools. Air Hardening. Plaster Of Paris. Acrylics have become a staple in the art world. In their relatively short history, the possibilities of this versatile medium with professional grades offering high pigment loads, multitude of viscosities, and dozens of acrylic mediums, the ways an artist can employ acrylics have become endless. Watch our acrylic videos here , or register for an acrylic Visiting Artist Demonstration at your local Opus for inspiration and techniques from BC artists on how they use acrylics in their work.

Due to their versatility and fast-drying nature, acrylics became an extremely popular painting medium for many artists and allowed for a lot of fast-paced freedom in artistic exploration and production. Depending on how they are used, acrylics can have the appearance of watercolours, of oil paints, or a unique appearance unto themselves. By the s, acrylic emulsions quickly gained in popularity for home painting, as they were easier to use and clean and dried quickly.

They were also far less toxic than many other paints. By the s, more and more artists starting using acrylics, attracted by how cheap they were and the fact that they held colour well, dried quickly, were water-resistant when dry, and could resemble watercolour and oil paint. In , to meet the demands of artists, Permanent Pigment Company developed the first water-based acrylic gesso, named Liquitex. A year later they put out their first water-based fluid acrylic paints.

Acrylics offered artists the possibility to achieve the transparent brilliance of watercolours by diluting the paint with water or the sharp, densely layered effects of oil paints. By using various mediums, the paint can be thickened and the drying time becomes slower, just like with traditional oil paints.