Stuff to Paint With

Well, let’s talk about artist paint. As you probably know all paint is made from a combination of two things, binder and pigment. The binder gives the paint its consistency and the pigment gives the paint its color. Each type of paint usually uses the same kinds of pigments but will use different binders to create the consistency of the paint. Below we will tell you a little bit about each kind of art paint so that you can make an educated and well-informed decision.

This media is one of the oldest in the world and also one of the most widely used. Oil paints most commonly use poppy oil, linseed oil or safflower oil as a binder. These oils are typically of a rich consistency which makes the paint buttery. Oil paint does take a substantial amount of time to dry because the oil must dry just from exposure to the air. In order to break down these oils, brushes must be cleaned with solvents like Mineral Spirits, Turpentine or Turpenoid. For more information about the differences between professional oil paints and student oil paints, make sure to read those sections here on the Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff web site.

This media is a much more recent addition to the artist paint family. Watersoluble oils were developed in order to give artists a paint that had all of the wonderful working properties of conventional oils without the smelly solvents. Water-soluble oils are bound with a refined oil that is much like the consistency of cooking oil. Artists find these paints to be just as great to work with as traditional oils, without all the hassle of a stinky clean up.

This media is also a relative newcomer to the art paint scene – within the last 70 years or so. Acrylic paints utilize an acrylic polymer as the binder. When this polymer dries the paint actually forms a plastic film. This makes acrylic paint very durable. Acrylic paint also dries very quickly and is water washable. There are all sorts of mediums available to change the consistency of acrylic paints to be like almost anything at all. This makes acrylics very versatile. For more information about the differences between professional acrylic paints and student-grade acrylic paints, make sure to read those sections here on the Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff web site.

Watercolor is also a paint media that has been around for a long time. However, the watercolor that is available today is light years from what the masters painted with. Today’s watercolors are bound with things like gum arabic, glycerine, and even honey. All of these binders become very fluid with the addition of water without breaking down. These binders remain transparent even after they dry which gives watercolor artists the ability to create transparent layers of color. For more information about the differences between professional watercolor paints and student oil paint art supplies, make sure to read those sections here on the Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff web site.

Gouache is like a cousin to watercolor. Gouache uses the same types of binders as watercolor paint but it is opaque rather than transparent. Many times you will see this media referred to as “designer’s gouache”. This is because before the days of computers, graphic designers used gouache to create flat areas of consistent color when designing print media.

Inks are an altogether different painting media. There are two very different styles of ink, one kind is dye-based and one kind is acrylic-based. The acrylic-based inks are very much like fluid acrylics and are bound with acrylic polymers. Check out which inks are best for your particular art application because they do differ.

We hope that this was helpful to you in making a decision about which paint makes the perfect art supply for you. There is nothing better than getting just what you wanted, right?