Pip Seymour Artist's Acrylic Colour 900ml

BACKGROUND TO THE FORMULATION OF PIP SEYMOUR ACRYLIC COLOUR EXTRA-FINE

The erosion of quality in affordable acrylic paints over the last 30 years.

Pip Seymour began teaching art materials and techniques in Art Colleges, universities and European Academies during the mid 1980s, at a time when painting was still a dominant force in British Art and a broad understanding of paint techniques and methods was reasonably well understood by both tutors and students and emerging artists.

Pip believes the subsequent erosion of traditional art forms and the introduction of new media to the art teaching curriculum combined with budget cuts to resources have resulted in less study of paint practice and greater reliance on economical paints over quality materials.

In modern Acrylic colours the consequences of these trends has been that most of the key paint manufacturers have focussed research and development on the production of low priced paints, as a consequence of which many students and artists have only been exposed to lower quality products when they begin to explore colour concepts. Both as an artist and someone who teaches paint materials and techniques, Pip has always argued against this approach. His vision is always to expose artists and students to paints of higher quality so they have access to a tangible and progressive understanding of the possibilities of colour.

The challenge to the modern manufacturer of acrylic colours is to make available high quality key colours at an affordable price, within a paint system that performs at the optimum level. To achieve this Pip Seymour has had access to all the many and latest technical developments in the acrylic resin industry.

COLOUR IN MASS PRODUCED MODERN PAINTS

“During the course of formulation, we confronted the issue of the use of fillers in paint systems: our appraisal was that the use or over-reliance of filler-types was significantly detrimental to the appearance of the dried paint film as manifest in many economical paints currently on the market. As a consequence, we eliminated the standard fillers typically used in acrylic paints on the basis that these products (calcite, calcium carbonate, gypsum) tend towards cloudiness in the dried paint film and can also contribute to a loss of flexibility. In many cases, these types of filler are used to lower the cost price – our approach was to put that argument to one side: the main issue was to create high quality stable acrylic paint, first and foremost.”

“To the unique binder system, (free of detrimental fillers), we selected the best possible range of very permanent, durable artist’s quality pigments. This core group of pigments offer the artist the maximum possibility for colour expression. For each pigment, a unique loading capacity is required, to achieve a balanced dried finish across the range. As a consequence we consider Artist’s Acrylic Extra-Fine to be a highly engineered product with very sensitive, subtle qualities.”

“The appearance of the colour from mass-tone (un-diluted), to thinned glaze allows for a range of tonality not found in many other acrylic paint systems. Similarly, when colours are admixed with white or black, or when inter colour mixtures are made, the colour value of each pigment is resonant. This is in part due to the exclusion of unnecessary fillers but also a consequence of the milling technique used, whereby each colour is expressed to its optimum capability.”

“The formulation for each colour allows the pigment(s) used to be visible to optimum effect. For example, where the colour is transparent (e.g. Pthalocyanine Blue), in the mass tone, the dried colour is a deep, dense dark blue but when diluted to a glaze, the colour is pulled out and thereby revealed as an intense, translucent and luminous blue. This range within the expression of one colour creates further opportunities for the artist to explore and tweak through inter-mixing with other colours.”

“From this core group of colours, inter-mixtures can be made to open up the colour spectrum. The unique binder matrix allows each pigment to be expressed to its maximum effect: the true nature of each colour is therefore available in acrylic paint form, unimpeded by fillers. The depth and true colour value of the dried paint film is revealed, in a binding system that creates synergy with the pigment load.”

ACRYLIC AS A PAINT SYSTEM

The benefit of using a modern high-quality acrylic paint enables the artist to work directly with strong colour that is diluted with and cleans-up with water only. The paint dries relatively quickly (within 15-30 minutes for thin layers in normal conditions), so allowing further over-painting within a short space of time.

The dried paint film is flexible and durable, whether applied thick or thin. For optimum results, apply up to 0.5 – 1cm thickness for impasto layers (although thicker passages should also be possible). Remember that the drying process for acrylic paints involves the expulsion of water content from the paint film: the thicker the application of paint, the slower this expulsion (evaporation) of the water content will be. Always wait for each layer to be at least touch dry before over- painting. The true curing time (total drying time) of acrylic paint will be a number of days, although normally, one can over- paint once the paint film is touch dry.

Paint can be applied thick over thin layers, as expected. However, thin paint can be applied over thick layers provided that each layer is thoroughly dry beforehand. Ensure that the support or substrate has been correctly prepared with layer(s) of suitable acrylic sizing and (or), priming so that the applied paint layers can adhere to the painting ground. This is especially the case with canvas and board – although most art papers can be painted onto without prior preparation.

The paint will also adhere to clean plastic surfaces (e.g. Plexiglass/Perspex) and de-greased glass.

Clean-up is with water only – wet paint or recently dried paint will clean-off straight away with cold or slightly warm soapy water.