Acrylic paints have a tendency to dry quickly, which makes blending difficult. There are three things I have learned that you can do to make sure your acrylic paints blend smoothly and seamlessly. These tips are excellent for making canvas painting easy for beginners.
What is the best surface to paint on?
When painting with acrylic paint, it is especially important to prepare the surface you are working on. You can find a post about preparing a canvas here!
You don’t want your paints to drag across a surface because that will result in brush marks. I prefer to buy primed canvases that are already prepared for acrylic painting.
How to extend blending time while using acrylic paints?
One major issue I’ve had with acrylic paints is drying time. Let’s say you’ve got your paint on the canvas and it’s drying out but you still need time to blend seamlessly. I’ve wanted my acrylic paints to behave like oil, to allow the time to work the paint. This is where acrylic mediums come in. These solutions allow your paints to stay wet so you can blend while taking your sweet time!
I prefer the Golden OPEN Acrylic medium in gloss finish. I simply add a small amount to my palette and work it into my acrylic paints. They soften the paint’s consistency while significantly extending its working time. Depending on how you want your painting to look, you can select a matte or gloss finish.
What are the best paintbrushes for acrylic paint?
Investing in high-quality brushes is a game changer. If you use rough brushes, you will notice brush marks in your painting. It is essential to keep your brushes in good condition. Here’s another post about cleaning paint brushes!
Taklon synthetic brushes are what I use. Synthetic fibre brushes are much sleeker and smoother in my opinion, and they have worked well with the acrylic paint texture to ensure everything is blended nicely and smoothly.
I hope these three tips have been as beneficial to you in your acrylic painting journey as they have been to me. There is no single answer to blending acrylic paints smoothly because you must analyse everything to determine where you need to improve.
