Watercolor paints composition and production. Watercolor for beginners: what colors do you need? Liquid watercolors

Chapter 13

Watercolor paints are prepared with water-soluble binders, mainly vegetable adhesives, which is why they are called water-based paints.

Watercolor was known in ancient times, but until the 17th century it had no independent meaning, it was used for coloring drawings, rough sketches, etc.

Watercolor acquired independent significance in painting starting from the 17th century. Paintings executed in watercolor are completely finished works of fine art with a rather deeply developed manner and technique of writing. Of the Russian watercolorists, Bryullov K., Sokolov, Benois, Vrubel, Savinsky and others are known.

Paints for watercolor painting should have the following qualities.

Color according to the established standard.

Great transparency, because the whole beauty of the colorful tone when applied in a thin layer lies in this property, which is achieved by especially fine grinding of dry pigments. Good to take with a damp brush and easy to blur. The ink layer should be easily washed off with water from the surface of the paper or primer.

Watercolor paint, thinned with water, should lie flat on the paper and not form spots and dots.

When exposed to direct sunlight, the paint must be lightfast and not change color.

After drying, give a durable, non-cracking layer. Do not penetrate to the back of the paper. Binders for watercolors should be of high quality: after drying, they can be easily dissolved in water, have enough a high degree viscosity and adhesiveness, upon drying to give a hard, non-cracking and non-hygroscopic film.

Gum resins (gums), gum arabic, cherry, plum, apricot and other vegetable glue of stone fruit trees, as well as dextrin, honey, sugar, molasses, etc. are used as binders in the production of watercolor paints.

gum arabic

Refers to a group of plant substances (colloids) that are highly soluble in water and are called gums or gums.

According to its composition, gum arabic is not a chemically pure substance. It is a mixture of complex organic compounds, consisting mostly of glucosidic-humic acids - for example, arabic acid and its calcium, magnesium and potassium salts. After drying, gum arabic forms a transparent, brittle film, not prone to cracking and not hygroscopic. Gum arabic, unlike oil, does not cause a change in the shade of paints, but it does not sufficiently protect the pigment from the action of light and air, since the layer of watercolor paint is much thinner than oil paint.

The main component of bee honey is a mixture of equal amounts of fructose and glucose with an admixture of water (16-18%), wax and a small amount of proteins.

In watercolor, it is better to use fructose, that is, the non-crystallizing part of honey, separating glucose from honey by crystallization from alcohol, water or acetic acid. Glucose has a melting point of 146°C and dissolves in 3 parts of water. Honey, turned into a granular mass, consists of glucose crystals. If honey is diluted with water and heated for 5-6 hours at a temperature of 60-90 ° C, then it loses its ability to crystallize.

Honey gives watercolor softness and helps to keep the paint in a semi-liquid state for a long time.

Dextrin

Dextrin belongs to the group of polysaccharide carbohydrates. Dextrin is obtained by heating starch to 180-200 ° C or to 110 ° C with dilute hydrochloric or nitric acid. Yellow dextrin dissolves easily in water and forms thick, sticky solutions. After drying, the dextrin film becomes cloudy, becomes hygroscopic, so dextrin is used only as an additive to the main binder. Watercolor paints on dextrin lie more evenly on paper than the same paints on gum arabic.

Syrup.

When starch is boiled in water containing sulfuric acid, saccharification occurs. After saccharification of starch, sulfuric acid is neutralized with chalk and the insoluble calcium-sulfur salt (gypsum) is removed by filtering the sugar solution, then the molasses is evaporated to the desired consistency.

The introduction of molasses into the binder prevents the watercolor from drying out quickly and imparts elasticity to the paint layer.

Glycerol.

Glycerin belongs to the group of trihydric alcohols. Thick syrupy liquid with water is mixed in all proportions. It is highly hygroscopic and is introduced into the binder of watercolors to keep them in a semi-dry state. It is found as an ingredient in fats and is obtained as a by-product of soap making. In watercolor, it is applied after thorough cleaning and bleaching.

Due to its high hygroscopicity, glycerin greedily attracts water from the air and gives the paint layer a wet and unstable state; with an excess of glycerin, the paint lays unevenly and in a loose layer on the paper.

With an increase in glycerin in a colorful paste, the depth of tone of some colors increases, and some, for example, cobalt blue, ocher and sienna, lose their pure light shade inherent in them and turn into darker ones - this phenomenon is explained by the high refractive index of glycerin.

Glycerin keeps the paint in a state of semi-liquid consistency and imparts softness to the paint layer, because without softeners the surface becomes covered with a network of cracks when it dries. A large amount of glycerin, i.e. taken in excess of the norm, adversely affects the light fastness of paints.

Bull or pig bile.

They are secreted by the liver of these animals. Ox gall reduces the surface tension of water, improves the wettability of pigments, and promotes even application of watercolors to paper.

A slight addition of ox bile to watercolors reduces the surface tension of liquids and improves the bond of the paint to the primer and paper.

Bile well emulsifies the oil, eliminates the tendency of watercolor to collect in drops and contributes to the uniform application of paints.

With an excess of ox bile in watercolor, the paints penetrate deep into the paper and color it.

Ox bile is prepared as follows: 0.3 liters of raw alcohol is added to 1 liter of fresh bile with 0.5% phenol, the contents are well shaken and settled for 3-5 days, and then filtered and freed from sediment.

Binder preparation.

As a binder for watercolors, vegetable glue is used with the addition of various substances of sugar, honey, ox bile, glycerin, etc., some of them lower surface tension, others increase strength and give elasticity to the paint layer or maintain paste stability for a long time.

For different pigments, an unequal composition of binders is used, since the pigments interact differently with the individual constituents of the binder.

Emerald green, containing boric acid, strontian yellow and lead yellow, containing salts of chromic acid and bichromates, make gum arabic insoluble, paints quickly harden, do not wash out with water and are not taken with a brush.

Highly dispersed pigments, such as kraplak, often cause gelatinization of paints. Weakly alkaline binders change the hue of Prussian blue, and the presence of acids causes discolouration of ultramarine.

A binder for watercolors in tubes can be prepared according to the following recipe.

I. Gum arabic binder for cadmium red, orange and yellow, cobalt blue and light green, ultramarine, kraplak, soot and zinc white. Composition (in parts by weight):

Gum arabic 40

Glycerin 15-25

Sugar or honey 2-4

Ox bile 2-3

Phenol 0.2-0 4

The amount of glycerin for kraplak and soot can be almost doubled; it is useful to add a small amount of tragacanth to the binder for ultramarine and cobalt light green so that the paint does not delaminate.

P. Gum arabic-dextrin binder for ocher, sienna and other natural pigments:

Composition (in parts by weight):

Gum arabic 30

Dextrin 10

Glycerin 15-25

Sugar or honey 3-5

Ox bile 2-3

Phenol 0.2-0.4

III. Dextrin Binder for Strontium Yellow and Chromium Oxide:

Composition (in parts by weight):

Dextrin 40

Glycerin 15-25

Ox bile 2-3

Sugar or molasses……………3-5

Phenol 0.2-0.4

IV. Dextrin binder with potassium linoleate for natural and natural umber

emerald green.

Composition (in parts by weight):

Dextrin 40

Sugar or molasses 2-5

Glycerin 15-25

Potassium linoleate 1.5-2

Phenol 0.2-0.4

Potassium linoleate prevents the paste from hardening. A glue solution is loaded into an enameled pan or tank, and solutions of sugar, honey (or molasses), glycerin, ox bile and phenol are added to it with stirring. After draining all the components, the mass is thoroughly mixed until a homogeneous paste is obtained.

Semi-dry watercolors in cups should contain a sufficient amount of glycerin, honey, sugar or molasses, but not too much, otherwise the paints do not adhere well and unevenly to the paper.

Binder from domestic gums.

The USSR has vast resources of various types of gum, which, due to their qualities, can be quite used in a watercolor binder instead of imported gum arabic.

The gum of fruit trees: cherries, sweet cherries, plums, apricots, almonds and others is not inferior to gum arabic in terms of adhesive properties.

Gum is released from plants in the form of transparent solid masses produced by them to cover wounds and other pathological phenomena.

During the hydrolysis of gum, a mixture of various glucoses is obtained:

gum arabic, arabinose and galactose, cherry glue, arabinose and wood gum - xylose. The composition of fruit gums includes cerazine or calcium metarabate, which does not dissolve in water, but swells in it. Gum arabic contains gum arabin, which is soluble in water. The content of cerasin in gums depends on the time of collection and climatic conditions of growth. Depending on the amount of Arabica and cerasin gums differ:

Arabica (for example, gum arabic), cerazine (for example, cherry, apricot, plum, etc.) and sorin-free - tarragant. Fruit tree gums do not completely dissolve in water, partially swell, forming a slightly gelatinous solution. Cherry, plum and blackthorn gum were used in ancient times as a binder for tempera and glue painting, which Theophilus mentions in the 12th century.

In a Russian manuscript referring to XVI century, it is indicated: “First, dissolve the gum in water, if there is cherry glue, white, clean.” Serbian manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries mention blackthorn gum.

Artists of our time use cherry gum for the preparation of watercolors, gouache and tempera paints.

Cherry gum.

Fergana cherry gum forms streaks weighing several tens of grams, from colorless or slightly yellowish to brown. Before use, all gum must be sorted into light, slightly colored and dark pieces and, according to their color, used for light and dark tones of paints. Almost colorless streaks can usually be collected in the spring, during the initial release of juice from the tree. The binder prepared from these influxes does not differ in color from the best varieties of gum arabic, it is quite suitable for white and light shades of paints.

The solubility of cherry gum depends on the content of cerasin: spring collection influxes with a smaller amount of cerasin completely dissolve in water in the cold and with low heat. The disadvantage of cherry gum is the difficulty of dissolving it in water and obtaining concentrated solutions without boiling. Cherry gum partially swells with water and gives viscous solutions that are very inconvenient to work with.

This disadvantage was known even to the old masters: in the written sources of the 17th century there is a description of a method for obtaining a fluid and low-viscosity glue.

In a tightly closed vessel, a solution of cherry glue is placed in a warm place for several days, while as a result of the fermentation process and an increase in acidity, the original gel-like structure of the glue is destroyed, the viscosity decreases, and the glue solution becomes as mobile as the gum arabic solution. The viscosity of the cherry glue solution can be reduced by partial hydrolysis, i.e., treatment with a 1-2% sulfuric acid solution for 3-5 hours when heated to 40-50 ° C, followed by neutralization of the acid with chalk or barium carbonate. A small amount of gypsum or barium sulfate precipitate can be filtered off.

Adhesive strength, i.e., the ability to resist tearing when gluing, domestic cherry gum is higher than gum arabic and dextrin.

High-quality watercolor paint, when diluted with plenty of water, should remain in suspension, not coagulate or separate the pigment. The rate of pigment settling is inversely proportional to the stabilizing ability of the gum, so its quality is determined by this. Gum with low stabilizing power forms unstable suspensions of watercolor, and their paint flakes unevenly on paper.

Paints prepared on domestic gums are well taken on a brush, lie evenly on paper, and when strongly diluted with water, the pigment does not flake.

Pigments for watercolor.

Watercolor paints, unlike gouache and tempera, must be transparent, which is achieved primarily by the finest grinding of pigments. Such grinding is achieved by elutriation of the pigments with water. With this method, the structure of pigments and high dispersion are preserved.

The main properties of watercolors depend on the degree of dispersion of pigments: transparency and evenness of the overlay of the paint layer.

If the pigment is coarse and not finely ground, then when the paints are diluted with a large amount of water, its particles will settle and, when applied to paper, will lie in spots and dots. Finely ground powder retains its original state, does not precipitate, and even when mixed with pigments of different specific gravity does not delaminate.

For each paint, the size of the particles is different: for natural pigments - the finer they are crushed, the brighter and more beautiful they are; for covering paints, a value of 1-5 microns is adopted; emerald green, cobalt blue and green, when coarsely ground, give the best shades, but paint layer has a grainy surface. In watercolor, transparency depends on the degree of grinding of the pigment.

Part of the pigments, when very finely ground, loses some of their brightness and becomes lighter (for example, cinnabar), so grinding for each pigment has its own limit, i.e., the optimal grain size.

In general, pigments for watercolor should have the following qualities: purity of color; fine grinding;

insolubility in water; lightfastness and strength in mixtures;

absence of water-soluble salts.

In many respects, organic paints are superior to all other artificial and natural paints, but their rapid fading under the action of light and the solubility of most of them in water are a serious drawback that limits their use in watercolor painting. The presence of water in watercolors has a strong effect on the durability of organic paints.

Organic paints have a pure color, are transparent and work well on paper, for example, Hansa Yellow, Litol Scarlet, Krapplak Red, Violet and Pink, Monastral Blue, etc., but it should be noted that the watercolor paint layer is subject to a stronger change under light than a layer of oil paint.

A slight presence of borax or boric acid coagulates the gum and renders it insoluble in water. It is impossible to demand that the pigment be absolutely chemically pure, but in any case it is necessary to get rid of harmful impurities as much as possible, thereby guaranteeing the invariability of coloring substances during mixing, as well as the strength of watercolors in painting.

Water-soluble pigments are not used in the production of watercolors, because they easily penetrate the paper, color it and are very difficult to wash off, disrupting the overall color of the painting.

As whitewash in watercolor, you can use the best grades of kaolin or blancfix, which has high whiteness and strength in mixtures. Natural coloring earths and artificial mars are a group the best paints in watercolor due to its high lightfastness and strength in mixtures.

Cadmium red, English red, caput mortuum and a number of other pigments are also indispensable in watercolor. Carmine is a bright red paint that is very common in watercolors, but is not lightfast enough and turns black when mixed with iron-containing paints.

Manufacture of watercolors.

Watercolor paints are available in porcelain cups and tubes. The technique for the production of these types of paints does not have a fundamental difference and basically goes through the following stages of processing: 1) mixing the binder with the pigment; 2) grinding of the mixture; 3) drying to a viscous consistency; 4) filling cups or tubes with paint; 5) packing.

To mix pigments with a binder, mechanical mixers with a tipping body are usually used. For small quantities, most often the batches are prepared by hand in megallic enameled vats using wooden spatulas. A binder is loaded into the mixer and the pigment is introduced in small portions in dry form or as an aqueous paste. The grinding of watercolors is carried out on three-roll paint-grinding machines. Due to the sensitivity of some paints to iron, it is recommended to use rollers made of granite or porphyry, and replace the steel shooting knife with a wooden one.

When grinding on a paint-grinding machine, the pigment is thoroughly mixed with a binder into a homogeneous paint paste.

The quality and quantity of grinding depends on the wettability of the pigments, the viscosity of the binder, on the degree of grinding and hardness of the pigments, on the speed of rotation of the shafts and their clamping.

Coarsely dispersed pigment requires additional grinding, which degrades the quality of the paint, contaminating it with materials during the erasing of the shafts and metal dust of the knife. To eliminate this, it is not recommended to grind the paste more than 4-5 times. For grinding watercolor paints, it is necessary to have separate paint grinders for a group of pigments more or less similar in shade. One for whites, another for dark browns and blacks, a third for yellows, oranges and reds, and a fourth for greens, blues and purples.

When switching to grinding another paint, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse and clean the machine shafts.

In the production of watercolor pastes, usually dilute solutions of binders are used, since when thick solutions are used during grinding, a homogeneous paint paste is not achieved, and the pigment is not sufficiently saturated with a binder.

The frayed paint is sent for drying in order to remove excess moisture and obtain a thick paste for packaging in cups or tubes. Drying of the paste is carried out in special drying chambers or on granite slabs at a temperature of 35-40 ° C. After removing part of the water, the thickened paste is rolled into ribbons 1 cm thick, cut into separate square pieces the size of the cuvette and placed in a cup. From above, the paint is laid with a piece of cellophane and, finally, wrapped in foil and paper with a label. When producing watercolors in tubes, tubes are filled with paste automatically by tube-filling machines.

Watercolor paints in cups are easy to use, they are easy to take on a brush and retain a semi-dry consistency for a long time. The disadvantage of these paints is that they are easily contaminated with a brush when preparing mixtures, moreover, when doing large work, rubbing the paints with a brush in a cup gives little paint material and takes a lot of time.

From a technological point of view, the production of watercolors in cups inevitably leads to the introduction of a number of additional operations: manual laying in cups, wrapping in foil, drying the paste, etc.

Paints in tubes are much more convenient: they do not get dirty, they are easily mixed with water without prolonged rubbing and give a large amount of colorful material. You can use less concentrated solutions of glue, which makes it possible to better clean the gum from foreign mechanical impurities. Watercolors of a more liquid consistency are more convenient to grind on paint-grinding machines and the paste is easier to pack in tubes.

The disadvantages of paints in tubes include: a tendency to thicken from drying or the action of pigments (especially poorly purified from water-soluble salts) on binders, rendering them in an insoluble state and making them unusable.

Often there is a hardening of the emerald green paste, in which boric acid is almost always present, coagulating gum arabic. To eliminate this shortcoming, emerald green should be well freed from boric acid and rubbed not on gum arabic, but on dextrin.

Strontium yellow, chromium oxide and chromium yellows also gel due to the interaction of chromic acid salts and dichromates with gum. Dextrin must also be added to the binder of these paints.

Gelatinization is also observed in watercolors, which contain finely dispersed pigments with a high adsorption capacity, mainly of organic origin, for example, kraplak.

Pigments with a high specific gravity and poorly wetted by the binder sometimes separate from the binder, and the ink paste separates. When the metal of the tubes and the pigment interact, the shade of the paint may change. watercolor painting transparent, clean and bright in tone, which is difficult to achieve through glazing with oil paints. In watercolor, it is easier to achieve the subtlest shades and transitions. Watercolor paints are also used in underpainting for oil painting.

The hue of watercolors changes when it dries - brightens. This change comes from the evaporation of water, in connection with this, the gaps between the pigment particles in the paint are filled with air, the paints reflect light much more. The difference in the refractive indices of air and water causes a change in the color of the dried and fresh paint.

Strong dilution of paints with water when thinly applied to paper reduces the amount of binder, and the paint loses its tone and becomes less durable. When applying several layers of watercolor paint to one place, supersaturation with a binder is obtained and spots appear. On slightly damp paper, a layer of watercolor paint is applied on top of the drawing.

When covering watercolor paintings, it is very important that all paints are more or less evenly and in sufficient quantities saturated with a binder.

If individual parts of the paint layer contain an insufficient amount of glue, then the varnish, penetrating into the paint layer, creates a different environment for the pigment, which is not optically similar to the glue, and will greatly change it in color.

When the paints contain a sufficient amount of binder, then when varnished, their intensity and original shine will be restored.

For a uniform and uniform coating, the paper should not be held horizontally, but at a slight slope so that the paints slowly flow down.

Nowadays, several types of watercolors are produced:

1) solid paints that look like tiles of various shapes,

2) soft paints enclosed in faience cups,

3) honey paints, sold, like tempera and oil paints, in pewter tubes,

4) gouache - liquid paints enclosed in glass jars *.

The binder of all the best types of watercolors is vegetable glue: gum arabic, dextrin, tragacanth and fruit glue (cherry); in addition, honey, glycerin, sugar-candy **, wax and some resins, mainly balm resins. The purpose of the latter is to give the paints the ability not to be washed away so easily upon drying, which is certainly needed by those that contain too much honey, glycerin, etc. in their composition.
Cheaper varieties of watercolors, as well as paints intended not for painting, but for drawings, etc., also include ordinary wood glue, fish glue and potato molasses as a binder.
Due to the low stability of the main binders of watercolor, attempts were repeatedly made to replace them with others with greater strength; so far, however, nothing of note has been proposed. Two types of watercolor should also be attributed to this kind of innovation: “watercolor fixed by fire” and “watercolour on a sarcocol”, proposed by J. Wieber and described by him in his work “La science de la peinture”. The binder of the paints in this case are wax and resin-gum. Both of these techniques bear little resemblance to watercolor and, as we see, were not successful.
All the beauty and power of watercolor lies in its transparent colors, and therefore it is natural that it needs a special colorful material, which either by its nature would already best meet the needs of watercolor, or become such after a certain processing. Since even paints that are opaque in nature, when finely ground, obtain a certain degree of transparency, one of the most important conditions for the manufacture of watercolor paints is their finest grinding.
No method of painting needs such finely divided paints as watercolor *; which is why making good watercolors by hand is not an easy task. But, in addition to fine grinding of paints, when making watercolors, another, no less important condition must be observed - the paints must be composed in such a way that their powder, when the watercolor is most abundantly diluted with water, “hangs” in the binder and does not fall out of it. Only under this condition of "hanging" and gradual settling of the substance of the paint on the paper, its uniform layout is obtained; otherwise, the paint is distributed unevenly, forming dots, spots, etc.
The preparation of good watercolor paints is thus achieved by grinding them as finely as possible and composing an appropriate binder **.

* Particles of finely ground paints are here about 25 microns (0.00025 mm) or less in diameter and are thus in the water in a state of so-called. "suspension" or "colloidal solution".
** On this basis, ideally composed watercolors are a mixture of a colloidal solution of an inorganic substance (finely ground mineral paint) with a colloidal solution of organic substances (glue, gum, etc. paint binders).

It is not customary to indicate the full composition of watercolors from manufacturers. Most often on the packaging we will find only an indication of the pigments on the basis of which the paint is made. But let's see what else can be hidden inside the tube and what role the various ingredients play.
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All that we will consider in this article is only general information, on the basis of which you can get an idea about the recipe of paints.
In reality, the formulation of each paint of each manufacturer is unique and is a trade secret.
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So let's get started!
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Coloring agent

The basis of any coloring composition is a coloring agent. It is he who determines the color of the future paint, its coloring ability, light fastness and many other properties. Coloring agents can be divided into pigments and dyes.
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A dye is a substance that is capable of coloring other materials, usually soluble in water.
Pigment is a colored substance that is insoluble in water. Simply put, it is a colored powder (ground very finely), the particles of which are in no way connected with each other.
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If we are talking about professional watercolors, then in most cases we are dealing with pigments.
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Not only are the pigment particles themselves in no way connected to each other, they also do not form any connection with the surface on which they are applied. If we tried to paint with a mixture of pigment and water, after drying, this mixture would begin to crumble from the sheet.

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In order to ensure that the pigment particles adhere to the surface and that the ink interacts with the paper in the way we are used to, a so-called binder is used.
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Also, it is the binder that determines the type of future paint. Of course, we are talking about watercolor, where a water-soluble binder is used. But, if instead of it we take, for example, linseed oil, then we could get oil paints. After all, the pigments, for the most part, are the same in paints.
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The main advantage of a watercolor binder is that it can be re-dissolved in water even after it has completely dried. That is why watercolor paints that have dried on the palette are enough to moisten with water for reuse, which is why we can wipe and select paint from the sheet even after the paint layer has dried.

What can serve as a binder for watercolor?

Historically, people have used a whole variety of different substances - these could be resins, starches, animal adhesives, and so on.
That is, there was no single option. By the way, according to one theory, this is why watercolor got its name not in honor of the binder (like oil or acrylic), but in honor of its solvent - water.
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In the 18th century, gum arabic began to be used in Europe, and it remains the most popular watercolor binder to this day. Gum arabic is a hard, transparent resin of a yellowish hue, consisting of the dried juice of some types of acacia.
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The price of gum arabic is quite high, so cheaper binders are used in budget series and general purpose paints. For example, dextrin is actively used - a substance obtained from various starches. Also, as a replacement, there are worthy options not only for vegetable, but also for synthetic binders.

Additives and fillers

The first commercial watercolors consisted mainly of pigment, water and gum arabic and were solid tiles. Before use, such tiles had to be grated and soaked in water for a long time.
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In order for our paint to have the usual pasty consistency, and when dried, it is soaked from the touch with a wet brush, various plasticizers and moisturizers are added to it.
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One of the most popular plasticizers in watercolor is glycerin, and sugar syrup or honey can be used as a moisturizer.
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And those are just the basics! In addition, watercolors may also contain various dispersants, preservatives, thickeners, and so on. It is important to understand that all this is in the composition for a reason.
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Each pigment has its own characteristics, and in order to make paints from them that are approximately similar in consistency and behavior, an individual approach and unique recipes are required.

It should also be added that special fillers can be used to lower the pigment concentration and reduce the final cost of the paint. Such fillers are often used in paints based on the most expensive pigments. It is also normal practice to use them in student series, this makes paints more accessible. The addition of such fillers usually does not affect the preservation properties of the paint. However, their excessive use can lead to the so-called soapiness of the paint and reduce its saturation.
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Additives and fillers play an important role in the composition of the paint and in most cases work in favor of the consumer, unless the manufacturer abuses their quantity in pursuit of cheaper production.
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This concludes our short tour. Now you know for sure that watercolor paint is not just an indefinite substance of some color, but a complex substance, each element of which fulfills its purpose.

The article was prepared by the experts of the watercolor laboratory watercolor.lab.

Few people know that for most types of paints, for example, watercolor, oil, gouache, tempera, the same material basis is used, which has not changed for many centuries.

We all probably remember our first paints on watercolor bases in round molds and long brushes. Many have tasted watercolor paints and could not help the habit of tasting the brush on the tongue like a pencil. But, alas, you can’t eat watercolor paint, despite the fact that it contains a certain amount of honey.

The main components of all paints are pigmented particles and binders.

Depending on which main component the paint will be mixed on, you can say what it will turn out to be, gouache or watercolor. Although the pigmented particles in all types of paints are the same, like water drops. Paints were invented in such deep antiquity that the name of the inventor simply disappeared into the flow of time.

Our ancient ancestors ground soot with burnt clay, mixed it with animal glue and created their immortal rock art with the help of the resulting colorful composition. They painted the walls of their caves with clay and ocher paints, and these drawings have survived to this day!

Over time, the compositions of paints became more complicated. Man began to add mineral, stone, clay powders to them, invented many chemical additives. Despite the progress, there are artists who prefer to work with paints made using ancient technologies. These are modern icon painters and restorers. To recreate old icons and paintings, they need paints according to old recipes.

They grind the paints with their hands, in their workshops there is a lead mortar, in which for a transparent Green colour malachite is ground into dust, grape seed is ground for black color, red paint is extracted from the mercury mineral cinnabar, and blue from lapis lazuli.

The color variety of paints grew and multiplied with the invention of new technologies.

In modern paint and varnish production, pigmented particles are used on mineral and organic bases, bestowed on us by Mother Nature, or artificially derived materials. For example, natural ultramarine from a very expensive mineral lapis lazuli was replaced by its "namesake" of synthetic production.

People have been painting for more than a millennium. You can verify this by going to any exhibition of ancient art or by studying the catalog of ancient rock paintings.

If there is a drawing, then there must be the paint with which it was drawn. But how did the ancient people, who decided to capture their complex, primitive life, get it? However, the answer lies on the surface. Surely the ancient people noticed that many berry crops have a good coloring ability, and they decided to use this quality. In addition to the plant palette, primitive learned to use clay, carbon black, and the few mineral pigments available to him for his creative needs.

The first painter in human history experimented on a grand scale. His first and foremost goal was to keep his work longer. Therefore, the paint must be resistant and durable. And for this you need a binder. This role can be assigned to clay, adhesives of animal origin, or to an egg. By the way, egg yolks and are still used in the manufacture of paints as one of the connecting links of the paint system.

To diversify color scheme the first paints, people used ocher and umber.

Any paint consists of four fundamental components. This:

• Coloring pigmented particles.
• Main binder.
• solvent additives.
• Filling materials.

All of these components have their own unique effect on various paint parameters. Much has already been said about pigmented particles, so let's move on to the binder.

Often used as a binder:

• natural or animal glue,
• natural resin,
• hydrocarbon compounds soluble in liquid media,
• solid oil products
• polymer additions.

This whole gentleman's set serves as a film former in paints. It is they, as the paint material dries, due to their binding characteristics, that cover the treated surface with a durable layer that retains pigmented particles and fillers in the coloring material.

Solvent additives are needed to reduce the viscosity of the paint, which makes it easier to work with a brush and makes it easier to apply paint to the work surface. Solvents are chosen in conjunction with the binders used in a certain type of paint. Mainly:

• water,
• oil,
• alcohol,
• ketone,
• essential,
• other hydrocarbon compounds.

Filler materials are added to ink formulations to modify texture and enhance haze. It is impossible to imagine the production of heat-resistant paint without filler materials, which is used in pottery workshops and for various paintings.

tempera paint

It is based on a water-soluble emulsion, which replaced the yolk mixture used in the old days in traditional icon painting. With large volumes of tempera paint production, casein additives are used in combination with artificial polyvinyl acetate resins.

Tempera-based paints are distinguished by the fact that they dry extremely quickly, while changing the original tone and color parameters. However, its strength and durability are not subject to any doubts. Tempera paintings are an art created for more than one century.

One of the most common color systems. It has been produced for several tens of centuries, because the Chinese figured out how to make watercolor paint at the same time as paper. Europeans learned about it only at the beginning of the second millennium of our era.

The basis of watercolor paints are:

• Natural gum arabic.
• vegetable resins.
• plasticizers.
• Glycerin or granulated sugar.

Such basic materials give watercolors a unique lightness and transparency. In addition to these main components, antiseptic substances, the same phenol, are invariably included in watercolor, and that is why watercolor paint should not be part of our menu.

gouache paint

In terms of its constituent components, gouache paint is related to watercolor. In gouache, pigmented particles and a water-soluble glue-based component also play the main violin. But unlike watercolor, gouache is enriched with natural white. This makes it a little tighter. In addition, as it dries, the paint brightens and gives the surface a delicate velvety. Paintings painted in gouache or watercolor are particularly lively and reverent.

Such paint is kneaded on drying oil, mainly on linseed oil that has undergone a unique technological processing. The composition of the oil paint also includes alkyd resin additives and desiccant solvents, which provide the paint with the fastest possible drying. Oil-based paint appeared on the European continent in the very middle of the Middle Ages, but the name of the person who managed to invent it cannot be established.

The remains of drawings made with oil paint based on poppy and walnut oils were found on the walls of caves in which the first Buddhist monks lived, and boiled oil drying oil was used by residents in Ancient Rome. Paint on oil bases do not change color characteristics as they dry, and have an amazing depth and brightness of color.

If you press the pigments of linseed oil, you can get oil chalk. If the same pressing process is done with wax-based paint, we get a fine waxy chalk.

Pastel paint is also made by pressing, but no oils are added to it. New technological developments have made it possible to significantly expand the range of manufactured colorful products.

The color choice of paints has also diversified, today there are several thousand shades of all colors, which was impossible to achieve with the old methods of production. However, the pigmented system on mineral and organic bases, developed many centuries ago, has remained virtually unchanged even in the face of rapidly developing technological progress.

related materials

Production for the production of metallic silicon by the Titan Group was previously planned to be organized in Omsk. Nevertheless, the population of the city defended the right to a safe environment. Today, against the construction of this plant on the territory Southern Urals are the inhabitants of Novouralsk. More than 30,000 people signed the petition.

Today's manufacturers face a big challenge when developing paint products, and one of the reasons may be that paint samples simply give them the opportunity to evaluate the dispersion flow in the reaction vessel. Now the researchers from Fraunhofer are collaborating with the Potsdam PDW Analytics GmbH for the first time to continuously monitor the production of varnishes, paints and adhesives in real time and thus design more effective method for the development of paints.

WATERCOLOR PAINTS

Abstracts of the lecture 5.

Topic message.

Organizational part of the lesson.

Lesson structure

Lesson 5. Lecture 2.

Questions to consolidate the studied material

Addition 1

Summarizing

Generalization of the material (questions to consolidate the material - appendix 1)

Teacher__________________________

1. what brush techniques do you know;

2. what parts does the brush consist of;

3. shapes of brushes;

4. types of hair bundle of the brush;

Topic 2. Classification of paints for graphics. Paints - water-soluble (watercolor, gouache), tempera (oil-casein, egg, polyvinyl citate, etc.), acrylics. Materials for oil painting.

Target: familiarity with the techniques of watercolor, gouache, tempera, oil, acrylic.

Literature:"Advice from the Masters. Painting and graphics, A.S. Zaitsev, Len., Artist of the RSFSR, 1979

"Materials and techniques of drawing", textbook, V.A. Korolev, M., Fine Arts, 1987

"Painting technique", G.B.Nikodemi, tools, materials, methods, M., EKSMO, 2002

Class type: lecture.

Method: explanation.

Checking the presence of students in the classroom.

Color classification. Watercolor, gouache, tempera, oil, acrylic.

3. Motivation learning activities:

Students should know: the classification of paints, the features of their use.

4. Lesson plan:

• classification of paints for graphics;
• water-soluble paints;
• tempera;
• oil;
• acrylic.

Watercolor paints belong to the group of glue paints. The name "watercolor" comes from the Latin word "aqua" - water, since water is a solvent for this type of paint.

The binder of watercolors are vegetable transparent adhesives - gum arabic and dextrin, easily soluble in water. Watercolor paints also contain a plasticizer in the form of glycerin and invert sugar, which makes them plastic. Glycerin retains moisture, prevents paints from drying out and becoming brittle. A surfactant, ox bile, is also introduced into watercolor paints, which makes it easy to spread paint on paper, since bile prevents paints from rolling into drops. To prevent the destruction of paints by mold, an antiseptic - phenol is introduced into them.

Watercolor is the only type of paint that is distinguished by its special transparency, purity and brightness of color. This is achieved not only by the purity of the materials used, but also by the high dispersion of pigments obtained by special grinding of powders.

In cases where opacity, dullness of paints is necessary, a mixture of watercolor paints with the corresponding gouache paints is used, or the paints are diluted in soapy water.

Light ocher*

Paint of a cold tone, transparent, but somewhat deaf in color. The great advantage of light ocher is that when it dries, it merges with paper and becomes silky.

Light ocher refers to highly light-resistant paints. Light fastness - 5 points**. It is not recommended to dilute ocher in iron dishes, this causes it to turn green.

Lemon cadmium

A specific feature of the paint is its dullness in any layer of paint, approaching gouache in terms of intensity, although the paint is not similar to gouache in terms of transparency and color saturation. Light fastness is 4 points.

cadmium yellow

The paint is similar to lemon cadmium, but more transparent. Light resistance - 5 points.

Sienna natural

Yellow-brown paint. In its properties it is similar to light ocher, but has a greater light saturation. Light resistance - 5 points.

Golden yellow "LC"

It is an organic dye. The paint is very transparent, warm tone. Works well on paper. The paint is silky. When added to the paint grass green or blue "FC", you can get a shade of Indian yellow. Light fastness - 4 points.

Cadmium orange

The texture of the paint is similar to that of cadmium lemon and yellow, but more transparent than those of these paints. A specific feature of this paint is the occurrence of agglomeration (agglomeration - the binding of pigment particles together) with an excess amount of water. Pigment agglomeration makes it difficult to paint evenly. To prevent it, it is necessary to dilute the paint with a small amount of water. Light resistance. - 5 points.

Red ocher

The red-brown paint is highly transparent; in thin layers gives a soft yellowish brown tint; spreads easily on paper and washes well. Light resistance - 5 points.

Sienna burnt and iron red. .

Both red-brown intense paints differ from each other in that burnt sienna has a warm tone, and iron red has a cold one, which is especially noticeable in the thinnest paints. Light resistance - 5 points.

One of the very transparent intense colors of bright red, has a warm tone with a cinnabar tinge. It should be noted that this paint, when diluted, quickly saturates the brush. Care should be taken when working with scarlet paint, since intensely colored paint fields are difficult to wash off the paper. Light fastness - 3 points

Kraplak red

One of the very intense crimson red colors. On the brush, this paint is typed quickly, spreads evenly over the paper. The applied paint is difficult to wash off the paper. You should work carefully with kraplak. Light resistance - 3 points.

Very intense crimson red, transparent, cooler shade than kraplak. According to its properties, carmine is logical to red kraplak. Light resistance - 3 points.

Kraplak purple

Violet-red paint. By its properties, this paint is similar to red kraplak. Light resistance - 2 points. Kraplak violet under the influence of ultraviolet rays acquires a brown tone. Light resistance - 2 points.

Ultramarine

Paint from the blue group, the warmest tone. specific feature

ultramarine is its tendency to agglomerate when diluted with a small amount of water. In this regard, when working with ultramarine, it is recommended to dilute the paint with rain or distilled water, which somewhat reduces its agglomeration. Light fastness. - "3 points.

cobalt blue

Freshly applied paint has a gentle Blue colour, the paint is not intensive; spreads unevenly on paper; when strongly diluted with water, it is prone to slight coagulation with flaking. Cobalt blue over time (both in light and in a dark place) tends to turn green and darken, which is caused by yellowing of the paper.

Blue "FC" (phthalocyanine)

Very intense blue paint of cold tone. With a light touch of a wet brush with diluted paint, the latter is quickly drawn onto the brush; spreads evenly across the paper. When applying saturated layers, it is recommended to work carefully, as the paint is difficult to wash off the paper. Light fastness - 4 points.

Emerald Green and Grass Green

Very intense green paints, characterized by high transparency. Paints are different in color, but similar in their properties. Both are well spread and washed out on paper. Their specific feature is incomplete washability, and therefore it is necessary to work with these paints very carefully. Light fastness - 4 points.

Permanent green

Very saturated bright green paint, the warmest of the group of green paints. It has high transparency, spreads evenly on paper; washes off paper well; The paint picks up quickly on the brush. Light fastness - 4 points.

Umber natural burnt umber

Natural umber - cold (tobacco) shade; burnt umber - warm (chocolate) shade. Paints are translucent; satisfactorily saturate the brush and satisfactorily wash off the paper. A little deaf in color and texture. Light resistance - 5 points.

mars brown

The paint is warm in tone, but colder than burnt umber. The paint is transparent and intense; spreads, blurs and washes off the paper well. Light resistance - 5 points.

A specific feature of this paint is some of its color change. In a saturated layer it is dark brown with a cold tint, in thin glazing layers it is brownish-gray, it is washed out, spreads well over the paper. Light resistance - 6 points.

Lemon hanse, yellow hanse, orange litol

All paints have a bright pure color, shades from lemon yellow to bright orange. Paints differ in intensity, are translucent, are easily typed on a brush; spread evenly across the paper. Light fastness - 4 points.

Cinnabar (imitation)

The paint is very bright and clean, the color is orange-red; lays down on paper evenly (without stripes and flakes), which makes it possible to blur it with transitions from intense to very weakly colored layers. The paint is washed off paper well, leaving barely noticeable traces. Light fastness - 4 points.

Lacquer pink

Hot pink paint of a cold shade, distinguished by purity and saturation in tone. The paint is intense, transparent, easy to pick up on the brush. When applied in a thin layer, it should be diluted with plenty of water. The paint is applied evenly on the primer and paper. Leaves a residue when washed off paper. Light resistance - 3 points.

Thioindigo red

In color, the paint is close to light red kraplak, differs from it in greater warmth of tone; intense, transparent. Light fastness - 4 points.

Lacquer purple

Intense ink of a cold tone, translucent, easily blurred and spread evenly over the paper; when washed off the paper leaves a faintly colored trace. Light resistance - 3 points.

Anthraquinone blue"

Transparent blue intense paint of a cold shade; well washed out and carried on paper; rinses off satisfactorily. Light fastness - 4 points.

Intensive transparent paint, colors from a bluish-black tint in dense layers of paint to bluish-gray in thin layers. The paint is easy to pick up on the brush; Spreads evenly on paper washes off paper satisfactorily. Light resistance - 2 points.

Iron blue

Intense, bright transparent deep blue paint; clearly blurred and evenly distributed over the paper. It does not wash off paper satisfactorily, leaves a faintly colored mark. Light resistance - 2 points.

Thioindigo brown

Intense red-brown paint; transparent, well blurred on paper. In dense layers, the paint is prone to agglomeration of pigment particles, but without delamination. When washed off with water, it leaves a faintly colored trace. Light fastness - 4 points.

Neutral black

The paint is highly transparent, but does not have an excessive intensity of soot gas *; has a greater color saturation in dense layers than burnt bone. Blurs, spreads and washes off paper well. Light resistance - 3 points.

Gouache(from the French "gouache" - water paint) - paints, as well as works of art made with these paints.

Gouache, like watercolor, belongs to the adhesive water-soluble paints, however, in terms of its qualities it differs sharply from watercolor, although its composition (dyes and binders) is almost the same as, for example, honey watercolor. A distinctive feature of gouache is that it is devoid of transparency. This property is associated with a significant amount (in relation to the content of the binder) of pigment and filler. In addition, for greater hiding power, many gouache paints contain white (lead, zinc, titanium, barite), which makes the dried paint somewhat whitish and at the same time gives it a haze and velvety.

Gouache is produced in two types: artistic and poster. The first is intended mainly for easel painting, the second - for design work. Poster gouache has a greater hiding power and color saturation, which is achieved by replacing zinc white with kaolin, which whitens the paint less and makes it more dense, rich and sonorous.

Gouache is packaged in plastic, glass and metal cans of various capacities. In addition, high-quality gouache in tubes has appeared in recent years. Gouache is sold individually or in sets in cardboard boxes.

Gouache - paint is opaque, dense; when dried, it acquires a matte velvety. You can work with gouache not only on paper, but also on primed (non-washable) canvas, fabric, cardboard, plywood. Gouache consists of a finely ground pigment binder of gum arabic, fruit gum, dextrin, glycerin, which serves as a plasticizer, a surfactant, which is a preparation of animal bile, alizarin oil and an antiseptic phenol.

The difference between watercolor and gouache is that gouache includes a smaller amount of binder and a significant amount of pigment, in addition, for greater hiding power, many gouache paints contain white (lead, zinc, titanium or barite). This makes the dried paint somewhat whitish.

Gouache is mainly used by poster and graphic artists, as well as some easel artists. Gouache is widely used in decorative painting, when performing various sketches. It is often used for colored sketches. Gouache is easy to use and, importantly, makes it possible to make corrections in the process. A layer of paint of medium thickness dries from 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the humidity of the air.

Poster gouache differs from artistic gouache in greater hiding power and color saturation, which is achieved by replacing zinc white with kaolin, which less whitens the paint and makes it more dense, rich and sonorous.

Fluorescent gouache paints are produced for decorative works and performances. They are a suspension of fluorescent pigments, where the binder is adhesives with the addition of plasticizers and antiseptics (pigments are solutions of dyes and luminophores in organic condensation resins). These paints have the ability to fluoresce under the action of ultraviolet and visible violet, blue and green rays. As a result, the light reflected and emitted by the pigment contains much more yellow, orange and red rays than they are in the incident daylight, due to which the brightness and saturation of colors increases two to three times.

Fluorescent gouache has the property of artificial lighting - irradiation with ultraviolet rays - to enhance its brightness, this is used for decorative effects in the dark.

Gouache fluorescent paints are diluted with water. These paints have a low hiding power, so it is recommended to apply them on a white substrate - white primer, paper, etc. which makes them brighter, while they are applied in a thin layer. When this gouache is mixed with ordinary gouache, the brightness decreases sharply.

Fluorescent gouache is used only for interior work.

The difficulty of working with gouache paints is that when they dry, they significantly change color and lightness. Brighten: chromium oxide, cadmium, cobalt, light ocher, golden ocher, emerald green; darken with subsequent lightening: ultramarine, kraplaki, natural sienna, burnt sienna; darken: Hansa yellow, orange.

When working with gouache, to determine the color obtained as a result of its drying, pre-prepared colors (paints) are used.

Gouache should be stored at room temperature, protected from freezing. Dried gouache paint is diluted with water, while it retains its quality indicators.

According to light fastness, gouache is divided into three groups:

The 1st group, in turn, is divided into two subgroups - A and B. Subgroup A includes completely light-resistant paints (5 points), indicated by two red asterisks; to subgroup B - lightfast paints (4 points), indicated by two black asterisks

2nd group - moderately lightfast paints (3 points), indicated by one black asterisk.

3rd group - poorly lightfast paints (2 points). There are no stars on the label.

Gouache paints produced by our industry are mainly lightfast.

Tempera(from the Latin "temperare" - to mix) - painting with paints, preceding oil painting, for many centuries being the main type of paintings.

Tempera paints are prepared on the basis of binders, which are a natural or synthetic emulsion, which determines the type of tempera paint, egg, polyvinyl acetate, oil-casein, varnish-oil, etc.

Tempera paint occupies an intermediate position between glue (watercolor, gouache) and oil paints. Like glue paints, tempera paints are diluted with water, but unlike them, after drying, the resulting film does not dissolve with water. Tempera differs from oil paint in a faster drying time and, unlike gouache - the most opaque of all paints - is quite transparent in thin layers.

Tempera can be written on any substrate: wood, stone, primed and unprimed canvas, cardboard and paper.

Tempera paints are well combined with almost all materials used in the fine arts, which makes them a very convenient and attractive material for both painting and decoration.

Our industry produces two types of tempera paints: casein-oil and polyvinyl acetate (PVA).

Casein oil tempera is a water-soluble paint consisting of finely ground pigments, a binder (an emulsion of linseed oil in an aqueous solution of casein), an emulsifier - alizarin oil, an antiseptic - phenol.

When diluted with water, the quality of casein-oil tempera deteriorates significantly. In this case, cracking, flaking or chalking of paints can occur, therefore, skimmed cow's milk, slightly diluted with water or a special casein-oil emulsion, is used to dilute them.

Like gouache, tempera changes its tone after drying.

The color scheme of works made in tempera is enhanced by the application of one of the top varnishes - pistachio, acrylic pistachio, dammar, etc. The varnish is diluted with pinene in a ratio of 1: 1 (adding pinene reduces the gloss of the varnish film).

Casein-oil tempera is sold in metal tubes, but its range is limited.

Polyvinyl acetate tempera- highly dispersed, pasty, water-based, quick-drying paint (1-2 hours in glazing (thin, transparent) layers and 3-4 hours in body layers).

PVA tempera binder consists of an aqueous emulsion, a synthetic polyvinyl acetate resin with the addition of stabilizers and structuring agents.

These paints are diluted with water, they are more elastic and stronger than casein-oil tempera. A distinctive feature of PVA tempera is that over time it does not turn yellow at all. Its disadvantages include the impossibility of using it with other water-soluble paints, since the mixtures made with it are poorly spread over the base, and the paints curdle at the same time.

The basis for working with polyvinyl acetate tempera are various materials: paper, cardboard, wood, concrete, glass, plaster, linoleum and a number of others. This explains its popularity, especially in arts and crafts and design art.

In the process of drying, polyvinyl acetate tempera changes its color and tone.

When the tempera dries, the PVA becomes dull, while the colors are slightly muted. To give sonority and richness to color, PVA tempera is coated, as well as casein-oil tempera, with one of the top coats diluted with pinene in a ratio of 1: 1, but this leads to some darkening of the work.

Paints should be stored at room temperature and not below 0°C. Warranty period of storage is 1 year.

Oil paints began to be used as early as the 15th century and are currently the most common in painting. They are prepared on the basis of mineral and organic dyes (finely ground powders), which have sufficient light resistance and a constant chemical composition. The binder is specially processed drying oils (most often linseed), from which the paints got their name. For whites and cold color paints, a new penta-oil binder, obtained as a result of special processing of sunflower oil, has now begun to be used.

Oil paints received such distribution due to a number of advantages compared to other paints. When dried, they do not darken, do not lighten, retain their brightness and color saturation both when applied on the body of strokes and when glazed. Oil paints dry slowly, which allows you to make corrections in the process, as well as achieve soft color and tone transitions. The drying speed of paints depends on the type of pigment used (mineral or organic) and on its oil absorption. The use of some pigments accelerates the drying time (for example, white lead), while others, on the contrary, slow it down (kraplak, gas soot). The type of pigment used significantly affects the hiding power of oil paints. Some pigments (white, cobalt, cadmium, black paint, chromium oxide, etc.), even in a thin layer, are able to cover the dried layers of the underlying paint. Other pigments that form paints (volkonskoit, mars yellow and orange), as well as all paints obtained on the basis of organic pigments, are transparent in a thin layer. They also differ in their intensity: blue and green FC, kraplak, even in small quantities, greatly change the color of any other paint, and wolkonskoit, even in large quantities, will only pollute the resulting color.

When working with oil paints, it must be remembered that mixing different paints without taking into account their chemical composition is dangerous, as this can lead to the appearance of various defects (discoloration, fading, cracking, etc.). For example, paints made from mineral pigments should not be mixed with organic. In general, it is not recommended to make complex mixtures of more than three colors.

Our industry produces two types of oil paints for painting: art and sketch.

Artistic paints packaged in metal tubes of different capacities: 9 cm 3 - tube No. 3; 18 cm 3 - tuba No. 6; 46 cm 3 - tuba No. 10 - and are used mainly for paintings.

Sketch paints are available in tin or plastic cans and are used for sketch and decorative design work.

Acrylic paints appeared about 50 years ago and immediately became very popular. The success of these modern paints is due to their ease of application, versatility and fast drying. Acrylic paints dissolve in water, but after drying they become completely insoluble. They are based on an aqueous suspension of non-yellowing synthetic resins, to which natural and synthetic coloring pigments, coalescents and stabilizers are added. In addition, they are very resistant to chemical and physical influences. Feature paints - quick drying, good light fastness, flexibility, elasticity. Acrylic paints perfectly adhere to any non-greasy surface: cardboard, paper, wood, plywood, plaster, faesite, clay, fabric. They can be applied with a brush, spatula, and when diluted - with an airbrush. Acrylic paints can be the most different colors and shades - from classic to fluorescent and mother-of-pearl. Given the speed of drying - you should close the paint immediately after work and rinse the working tool. For acrylic paints, various additives are produced that slow down or speed up the drying process, and also give acrylic paints a shine, a matte look, like tempera, or a moire effect, like watercolors (these additives are produced by the Spanish factory Ferrario and other foreign manufacturers. With many advantages of oil and watercolor paints, as well as a number of advantages of their own, acrylic paints are versatile and easy to handle.Whatever your painting preference, acrylic paints are worth a try.They are based on a ductile synthetic resin and can produce both the most exquisite glazes and and dense texture of painting.

For acrylic paints, brushes with synthetic bristles are ideal, nylon brushes are also quite suitable - natural bristles swell from moisture and become brittle.

Another difficulty when working with acrylic is color. The polymer binder has a semi-matte, milky tint, so the paint is lighter in the liquid state than after drying. It is necessary to take into account this discrepancy, imagining what the color will be in the future.

Acrylic paints have less sheen than oils. To give or enhance their shine, you must use a gel medium. It is a pure polymeric binder that, when mixed with paint, adds gloss, creates transparency and slows down the drying process. There are also:

Gel for diluting acrylic and giving it better fluidity and spreadability;

Thickening gel that creates the effect of the body writing technique.

A huge variety of means by which the artist can achieve comfort in working with acrylic paints.