Bartc
Well-known member
- Messages
- 1,291
Let me say first off that I don't believe any medium is "better", just different and preferable variably for different effects by different artists. So please don't think I'm seeking an argument below.Not to be a snob, but I think you can come real close, but not so's you can't ever tell the difference. You can use the very best acrylics on earth and layer and glaze them with the greatest techniques; you might even think it's an oil painting at first, but upon closer inspection, you'll inevitably see that acrylic is never like oil paint. And we still don't know how long it lasts. Only time will tell us. However, it seems, IMO, the color dies a little over time, while good oil paint seems to stay alive for (at least) decades, if not a century+...just needs a little gentle cleaning here and there.
A little "cheat" trick is to build layers with acrylic and glaze over the remaining layers with good, expensive oils. I've done that, but I don't know how long those pieces will last either. They look pretty good (not the actual paintings; I'm talking about the glow of the colors).
While you may tell the difference, very few people seem to be able to do so with a highly skilled acrylic painter with the right media and techniques, IME. I suspect that's more likely what you experience, a difference in handling more than the medium's inherent properties. But imitating oil isn't the main goal anyway, as St. Lukes posited, so it's a moot point. Most acrylic painters aren't trying to imitate oils, only some are bothering with mediums (or the two brands that stay or can reopen) to get more drying time or blending as they might with oils. Whatever floats your boat.
I never liked that slow drying aspect of oils and prefer the quicker drying media, and Chroma Atelier Interactive Acrylics plus Liquitex Blending Medium both worked well for me when I wanted more oil qualities in handling. Beyond that, it's up to your taste.
However, I haven't personally heard anyone complain about the toxic aspects and smells of acrylics, nor have I heard or read that anyone has had the allergic reaction over time that some do with oils. That is a very real consideration. Quite a few postings with both those complaints here.
The pigments/dyes used in acrylics are often the very same ones used in oils, watercolors, gouache, etc. anyway, so when folks tell me they expect acrylics not to endure, that just makes no sense to me. Oils do oxidize and also fade with time, and most often they crack and the varnishes yellow badly too, plus they appear to accumulate airborne contaminants in a way that acrylics can just brush off. And consider that watercolors and gouache don't dry the same as they go on wet either, so acrylics are not a "bad boy". Watch the videos by the best conservators (who might also revere oils by tradition) and you'll see the evidence that oils are not the greatest in this regard.
Ironically, so many people believe that oils are the original gold standard medium. Not so historically! Cave paintings may well have started in water, according to the research I've read. Paintings prior to around 1500 in Europe are primarily egg tempera, not oil. Inks and watercolors have done well all over the world for thousands of years. Wax and fresco paintings have been around for millennia and are quite durable and beautiful; oils really only 500 years by comparison. So while acrylics may be the freshman of media, oils are still only the sophomores.
Again, it's personal taste to my thinking. Nothing wrong with oils for those that like them. Nothing in them that I'm personally convinced makes them any more valuable or durable, however.
I'm not arguing that acrylics are "better" than oil at all. Just different and not to be easily dismissed. Personally I do get tired of the worship attended to oils, when so many artists work well in so many other media. Look at the fabulous work posted here that is done in many media besides oil, for example.