Does anyone have any personal experience (pros/cons) with Chroma Interactive Acrylics?

 

Thanks,

Steve

Views: 923

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Hi Steve, I have been using Interactive acrylics for just on a year now and overall I'm very pleased with the results.

Recently, I attended a workshop where the resident artist is recommended by Chroma and it was interesting to hear that initially, he had difficulty adapting to them. However, he preserved and now would not use anything else, he is a professional artist of 20 yrs + standing. I, on the other hand took to them like a duck to water, probably because I have been painting only for the last 3 yrs and had less to unlearn.

Workshop # 3 is a case in point ... when I painted the subject it was over 30 degrees Celsius (HOT) and as long as I used the water spray bottle together with slow medium, it was not a problem.

Hope this is of some use to you, if you have any questions for me, I don't mind if your message me.

Hi Lyndon,

I'm getting an Interactive Acrylics kit for Christmas so I'll be trying them out in a few days. Thanks for the input.

Merry Christmas Steve, I suspect I will be getting art supplies also, at least from the grandkids!

Don't forget if you have any questions, hopefully I might have the answer.

Happy painting!

Well, here is my first painting using the Interactive Acrylics but I have mixed feelings about using them. I really like the fast drying aspect of them but I don't like the "thinness" of the paint. There are no brushstrokes in this painting and the canvas shows through too much in my opinion. I'm going to try another one today and see how it turns out. This is an 8 x 8 on canvas board.

Steve, pretty good first try, I particularly like the treatment of the sky. As far as brush strokes are concerned if you're really into that there is an impasto gel which can be used with the paint to give a similar finish to oils.

I had the same comment regarding the thin paint when I first started using the paint but I found it was not so much the paint but the way I was using it, don't be afraid to pile it on, straight from the tube if you like. I've also found that using some of the mediums available instead of water to dilute the paint tends to retain the body of the paint much better.

Anyhow, all the best for 2012 and remember... Rome wasn't built in a day, lol!

Here's one I finished today. It is a little better than the first one I think. Still, I just don't like the thinness of the paint. I've ordered some impasto  gel to mix with the paint to give it more of an oil feel. I try that when it comes in.

Hi Steve, glad to see you are persevering with the acrylics, really like the way you do the skies!

Something else that might be helpful, are you using a stay-wet palette?

I found in the early days that I was concerned about the paint drying out too soon, so I was not putting much paint out on the palette and consequently I was not using much paint. Since then, I have made a stay wet palette with a plastic lid which will keep the paint workable for more a week without any problem. But if you really want to see a wet palette go to:

http://www.explore-acrylic-painting.com/artist-palette.html

Mark Waller is the artist I referred to in my first comment and if you read his comments on the above url, I think it might help considerably.

Happy painting!

Now that I think about it Lyndon, I have skimped on the amount of the Interactive acrylic paint I squeeze out onto my glass pallet simply because I knew it was going to dry out.

With that in mind, I experimented last night with an old water color case.

I remember from my underwater photography days that my underwater camera had an o-ring seal and I would always rub vaseoline around the seal before every dive.

So I made a o-ring seal with a rubber band around the lid of a small watercolor case that I had laying around. I then put a paper towel in it saturated it with water. Then I cut out a piece of disposable pallet paper to lay over the wet towel and squeezed out a few piles of paint.

I just checked and amazingly the paints looked like they just came out of the tube!

I'm off to Hobby Lobby today to get a "real" sealed pallet. I'm hoping with this new discovery and my new "thick" gel, which should be here tomorrow, I'll be able to "slather" on thick globs of paint. I'll post here after I try it out.

Hi Steve.

I have only just joined The Complete Artist website so I don't even have photo on my profile yet, but I noticed your question and thought I would respond.

I have been using Interactive Acrylics for quite a few years now and in fact do workshops for Chroma here in Australia to help other artists get the best use out of these paints.

I love their versatility. With a spray mist water bottle and a hair dryer you can control drying time. The various mediums greatly increase the possibilities. Some mediums slow down drying time so that the paint can be kept 'open' and allow you to work wet in wet for as long as you like. These mediums also allow the paint to be reopened with unlocking formula, even after the paint layer is dry, so that you can go back in and make tone or colour adjustments wet in wet. Other mediums can be used to 'lock' the paint layer so that it can't be rehydrated or reopened.Good for the more traditional wet on dry acrylic painting techniques.

There is very good info about these paints on the Chroma website www.chromaonline.com and I'd also be happy to answer any questions you may have. You don't need all the mediums. It's about finding the right ones for you and how you want to paint. All the best.

Cheers.

Hi Steve I am a relatively new painter and have just recently switched to the Atelier Interactive Acrylics and I love them.

They are so lovely to use and the colours are awesome.

I am just starting to use the mediums but find that using water is just as good for the things I like to do.

Here is a picture of my dad's cat I have just finished today using these paints.

Let me know what you think if you do use them.

Cheers

Jan

PS my profile picture is done with them too :~}

Hi Steve, I just bought a set of the  Chroma  Interactive Acrylics ,   the colors are very bright and it takes a lot of getting use to . Guess I'm really more in love with oils  ..I did use them  for a base  block in before doing the finish in oils .I'll do another  soon and really give them a hard try.   and yes the paints seem very watery  especially when you can add water  after the fact.   

error

Reply to Discussion

RSS

About

The Complete Artist is a friendly social network for all artists wanting to improve their painting.

Get my FREE Painting Lessons here!

Groups

Photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All

Events

© 2024   Created by Richard Robinson.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service