Just a minor word to the wise, technically tempera is made with egg yolk, egg white is used to make glair. A drop of dammar varnish helps preserve tempera mixes on the pallet and the painting. I did a lot of mixed media work with acrylics ~40 years ago I mixed in all sorts of things, and I still have some of the samples. I was a printing ink chemist / painter back then. I can tell you that using a lot of polyol eg glycerine can increase drying time to be unacceptably long and it can migrate via the substrate. PVA glue varies in quality, some I tested tended to go orange around the 2 decade mark. I found that with care you can introduce drying oils into acrylic paint and make it more compatible with oil paint; despite the old artist's rule of 'fat over lean' my oil/acrylic mixes are still looking new and flexible after 40 years! My best tip: A small amount of benzyl alcohol helps really thin acrylic paint flow from the brush to the canvas but don't over do it.
Wow wow wow!! I am new to your channel and I absolutely love and appreciate your "tips"! The gesso tip was an eye opener!! I did my first big abstract painting yesterday, and struggled with blending and blending too fast. I painted with white acrylic first, I should have done with gesso. "Good to know". I have been a closet painter/ draw /sketcher because I never took lessons but never thought I was "good enough". So now I don't care, I want to be better for me. Thank you for sharing! I love your channel thank you your one of my faves! ❣❣❣
What a strange coincidence! Just today I talked to a professional painter ans he suggested flow improved and there u go and give me cheaper options! Thank you!
Clive...greetings from Hornbrook California. Thank you so much for inspiring me again. Just loved these awesome tips and as usual laughed and loved your wonderful sense of humor. Had back surgery 6 months ago and can finally paint again without pain. You have kept me inspired through it all. A huge thank you for all you do. Kelly
I gave up on acrylic and went back to oils a while ago. The main reason being the rapid drying, which doesn't give much time for blending. But this might be worth trying. Thanks.
I hv been using glycerine with rose water 50:50 with a few drops of lemon to lighten the skin tone and remove dryness. This is my mother's old recipe. Amazing that I can use it in acrylic paints too! Thank you Clive.
+Angela Anderson KY is just a Cilicia mix with water which makes for a good water based thinning medium hair gel is exactly the same stuff but with perfume added
CLIVE5ART i have actually started using KY and it works beautifully! makes blending allot easier, and also makes a nice sheen on things such as water :) thanks for the tips
Clive, thank you. Not only is this fun and useful but I feel more relaxed and ready to work after listening to this. I'll be looking to learn more from you, especially how to lighten up and enjoy myself.
This is wonderful information. I had no idea I could use these products this way. I am so thankful I don't have to spend a lot of money buying an expensive product from an art supply store. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Greeting from across the Pond in Florida. You, my UK friend, are very cool. Love the way you present your Hacks and Saving ideas, I am a novice painter but, you have increased my skill just by watching. Thanks a lot Clive, I try to watch every video you make. At my age I have KY left over, so now I have a use for it. Hahahahahah.(P.S. wife told me not to waste it on paint)
I use Acrylic for cartooning, Abstract artwork and some illustrative Realism, so I had to figure out how to make the colors more Opaque. I found that adding Acrylic White to the individual Acrylic colors makes the colors more Opaque. It is a bit tricky because too much white starts to change the original color. Also adding Water Color Gouaches to Acrylic helps to make the colors more opaque and less transparent. This video is very informative and I will be experimenting with some of the ingredients to see what I can do with them.
Just found you here! I am pleased to have my media expanded. I would have not thought of using any of these. I appreciate your hard work and research to help other painters do well. God bless! Pastor Bear
So I watched this video and got the courage to touch the acrylics I bought a while ago, ahhh thanks for making this video. I never thought about any of these but hair gel worked great yesterday,
Thanks for this, I kind of knew but afraid to ask as should know really. It's showing the results that makes it easier to be expressive and daring. So thanks again.
Wow! So cool! I have wanted to start painting for several years .....well almost my whole life, so I'll just say over 4 decades! I did do a tiny painting months ago because I've heard it can possibly help with my depression, it's been really bad for quite some time. I was pretty frustrated because my paint would dry up sooooo fast and that's not great when your a beginner trying to take my time, AND trying to get me 12 year old son to paint with me in Hope's he would like it and want to get into painting. I do feel painting helps quite a bit with depression, however my issue is just getting everything out and set up ....and clean up, lol. It's like a wall I just can't climb for some reason. I would love to get over that! These tips have given me a great feeling as I see the glycerin and KY will definitely help with the frustration thus making painting more enjoyable. I am ambidextrous so I have sooooo many crafts I like to do, even getting a lil business off the ground. I feel doing that would change my life for the better! Having debilitating depression really sucks and has put a huge "damper" on my life and I'm desperate to change that. You have given me hope with painting and I am finally looking forward to getting all my painting supplies out once again .....hopefully more then once, lol! Thank you! Wish I could share a picture of a painting or 2 afterwards!
Hi Clive, love the videos, learning so much and I'm an absolute beginner. I was wondering about other additives for texture such a sand, etc. Is there a vid from you on this subject? Thanks for all the hard work you put into the tutorials :)
I'm not sure I can experiment with those very interesting things; but I think I'd like to look at your mediums and other products. I've got about four paintings I am dying to get working on. You are pleasant to listen to.
I just love all your tips. They are very informative. I have learned so much from you. I am new at painting and welcome your knowledge. Thank you for sharing.
KY Jelly is also sold here in the states under the name Taylor lube and it is used as a lubricant in food service machines such as soft serve ice cream machines. We have "dollar stores" here that offers off brands for (you guessed it) a dollar, and water based personal lubricant is available..
Oh yes, great ideas, I have used Veg. glycerin and it does work for blending your backgrounds, gives more time for blending. You can dry it quicker using a hair dryer. Done carefully of course. Haven’t tried the others, but hair gel and glue sounds interesting. Thank you again for your advice. Smashing.
Mr.Clive I can't stop thinking how deep creative artist u are all ur tips and tricks makes me so shocked as much as so amazed but for a very beginner I am not yet well doing being even a painter yet Mr.Clive will u plz give me any topic advices from u to me to hold on fighting and to save my faith to keep going until I reach my point on day...Thank u for every thing u ar sharing us so generosity from ur deep heart best wishes and hats off Mr.
Great tips Clive.can I ask how to make a Matt glaze? I don't particularly like my acrylics finishing with a shine they don't photograph well. Thank you.
So I can use glycerin (which I already have a lot of) as a drying retarder, to allow me to wet blend much easier? I'll have to see how well this works on miniatures, because that's what I work on most these days. Thanks for yet another great video, Clive, much appreciated.
Yes actually it was used as an additive in the early days in the paint mixes these days there are other chemical based additives which are more stable glycerin can make the paint sticky and only a few drops should be used with water it can also effect the drying time.. manufacturers do say don’t use it but they did for years it’s just that they want you to buy there products so take care while using and try a few samples to get the right mixes
Hi Clive, just came across this video as wanting to move into mixed media after 6 months of getting fairly good at water colours. Excellent 'video' I can assume you are teacher or presenter as I am, if not, you are bloody good my friend. I wish all RU-vid artists were as clear, to the point, very detailed, interesting and you made it fun. Will certainly see what else you have done. I am wanting to try doing large canvas abstract murals but want to cut down the costs to practice. Can you recommend any standard DIY primer paint for creating a base on hardboard or MDF . Also your opinion of stretching cotton dust sheets over a home made frame and then again a base for gessor. It is just for me to try out an urge to slop on paint on a large scale. In my early years teaching would do large murals (mainly DC/Marvel superheroes) at the back of my classrooms for the kids. Recently travelling through Italy using Airbnb my host was an artist and invited me to his studio where was working on a very large mural, was fascinating and has really given me the desire to have a go.
