Acrylic Painting Mediums and Methods: A Contemporary Guide to Materials, Techniques, and Applications

by Rheni Tauchid, Alice Teichert (Foreword)

This new, sophisticated, comprehensive reference book will inspire and instruct painters on how to handle today's acrylics in innovative and individualistic ways. Acrylics have grown into the most adaptable art material for the modern age. Developments in the pigment industry have given acrylics a remarkably permanent, rich, and abundant palette, making it the favorite medium of many contemporary artists. As colors are being developed, their chemical components are also enhanced for better texture and handling. Art-supplies vendors now offer acrylic mediums for thinning, thickening, glazing, molding, pouring, texturing, and dozens of other uses. Even experienced acrylic painters can be confused - even intimidated - by this staggering diversity of products. Painter and art materials expert Rhéni Tauchid simplifies this daunting subject, clearly explaining each type of medium and suggesting ways it can enhance your painting practice. Over twenty step-by-step demonstrations teach you how to apply mediums to create vibrant colors, sensuous surfaces, and striking visual effects. Hundreds of beautiful photos illustrate mediums’ almost limitless potential and show you how other artists - both abstract and realist - are employing mediums to push their art in new creative directions. The first book of its kind, this essential reference belongs on every acrylic painter’s shelf. Includes the Work of Contemporary Nick Bantock, Diane Black, Bruno Capolongo, Pauline Conley, Marc Courtemanche, Marie-Claude Delcourt, Claire Desjardins, Marion Fischer, Heather Haynes, Lorena Kloosterboer, Suzy Lamont, Marie Lannoo, Connie Morris, Barry Oretsky, Lori Richards, Hester Simpson, Ksenia Sizaya, Rhéni Tauchid, Alice Teichert, Beth ten Hove, Sharlena Wood, and Heather Midori Yamada."

Genres: Art

272 pages, Hardcover

Published June 21, 2018

Reviews

[Colette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this for $40 at local bookshop. Worth EVERY PENNY. I took a Beginning Acrylics class 2 yrs ago...but the instructor never mentioned mediums. I just wondered what they were when I walked past all those white jars in the acrylics aisle in the art store. I had no idea why or how one would use them. So this book is so informative! Tauchid explains visual concepts (and even a little bit of the chemistry of acrylics) in a way I can understand...the photography is gorgeous and really complements the information perfectly. The range of artists she highlights show the range of possibilities in acrylic mediums. Really, if you’re painting acrylics, you should at a minimum be using mediums to extend your paints—-to get you more bang for your buck with those expensive pigments—but the possibilities beyond that are so exciting. With my newfound knowledge I can’t wait to go forth and experiment! Highly recommended!!

[Carolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is all about the mediums and it does a good job of describing them. However, unlike with colour where you can pick a pigment code and have a good idea what kind of paint you are getting, mediums have no standards. The authour does work for Tri-Art and she does try to keep her descriptions generic, but I find it hard to map the types of mediums to what I see when I look at that shelf in the art store. I know that actually having some and using them will help, but I see a lot of trial and error in my future.

[Carlos Nunes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book offers valuable insights but could be improved in terms of accessibility for beginners. The structure may present challenges for those new to the subject. Incorporating more introductory examples could make this resource more welcoming to newcomers.