Radiant Colors in Oil and Acrylic

Recently I discovered I enjoy working with both Galkyd Gel and Cold Wax Medium. The suggestion for Galkyd Gel was by Dave, one of the techs over at Gamblin, and I have been enjoying it as an impasto medium quite a bit. The cold wax is also excellent for building texture and a really beautiful matte finish.

I started a long landscape to try these mediums out, and with how quickly Galkyd Gel dries (within a day or two), I was able to continue building layers over the course of just a few weeks. I’m not one much for slow dry painting, so Galkyd medium is usually my go to. I get enough blending time in to do what I need, then can come back within a day or two to continue progress.

This is the painting in its initial stages, before more texture and detail was added.


About two months ago, I was able to tour the Gamblin factory down in Portland. It was a wonderful experience, and I left with a huge smile on my face, as well as a sample of their Radiant Green. I wanted to apply the radiant green in a way I might not have thought of, so I used it for small details and highlighting as I continued my painting.


Radiant Green was used on the water as part of the reflections. I was loving it.


I premixed all of my colors on my palette, but didn't need to mix the Radiant Green. I let it do its thing. It was a really nice experience working with it and I was very content with the finished painting.



The complete work- 12"x36" oil on canvas, painted from a photo I took at Deception Pass.




Given that the colors were beautiful in oil, I decided to make them with similar colors in acrylic. To reduce the drying time, I used Golden's Open Matte medium (a slow drying medium).


8"x8" round canvas done in acrylic with Golden Open matte medium to slow dry time.


Golden's Open Acrylic line definitely delivers. I found that it blends similar to oils and stays wet for at least a half hour if you leave it alone, but much longer if you continue painting.

How I achieved this was with Golden's Open Acrylic Titanium White as a base layer. From there, I mixed in a little bit of Open Matte Medium with the acrylic colors I chose in a cheaper brand and started blending, doing a wet on wet technique.
Getting darks was a little bit more difficult with the acrylic over the slow dry titanium white, as compared to doing the same with oil paints.

I'll be trying a thin layer of the Open Matte Medium soon with another round canvas to see if better darks can be achieved.



Thanks for reading!

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