When I first started painting 1000 years ago there were no such things as Mediums or Gels. Life was simple. The only choice was watercolour, acrylic or oil paint.
Watercolour wasn’t even a consideration as every attempt had resulted in a pool of mud on paper that gradually wrinkled into undulations, much like the surface of a sandy riverbed. This was clearly a technique that required a skill set that I didn’t possess.
Acrylic paint, I had tried but found it to be very flat. I was grateful for its’ ability to hold it together and dry quickly before too much of a mess could be made, but I actually preferred it’s appearance before it dried. On drying it seemed to flatten and become dull.
Oil paint was my first love. I loved it’s buttery consistency, when scraped over a surface it remained just as the brush or palette knife had left it. The ease in which you could blend and render realistic details; something which watercolour had brutally denied me. You could use it to create beautiful thick texture, smooth flat blended colour and every nuance in between. Also, I bought in to the belief that serious painters only used oil. Therefore, as a budding serious painter – oil it was.
It was messy though, and smelly. While I quite like the smell of the paint, the turps really is ghastly stuff. And a jar of old turps with a grey sunken layer of dirty unwanted paint dregs presents the Serious Artist with a very serious environmental problem. The Serious Artist cannot leave her brushes to stand in such a jar as might be her desired practice when her painting session comes to an end. To clean out the jars would require more splashing around with turps, but what to do with the growing number of jars? Yes, my days of oil painting brings back memories of a line-up of these jars with sludgy remains of old paint, ruined brushes having stood too long in the turps, and the little coos and gurgles of my waking baby calling me to attention upstairs.
Eventually my babies didn’t sleep in the afternoon, I grabbed a few hours when they went to kindy. But when the youngest arrived at school with a confident “I’m Here” proclamation, I headed back to the classroom myself and picked up where I had left off teaching Art to teenagers.
In between then and 2017 when I started painting again some bright spark came up with the idea of adding thick clear acrylic ie. colourless paint to Acrylic paint so that it would behave a little more like oil paint. And so, Gels and Mediums were born.
At first I only used them as glue – but what great glue they are. Glue that isn’t sticky!! Well at least they don’t stick your fingers together as you use them. Try getting it off a brush that you have inadvertently left out after use and you’ll soon realise that once stuck there is no going back.
Sealing with Gloss Medium
Now of course, paint companies have realised how popular these gels have become and they add pumice, sand, beads, glitter and goodness knows what else to the gel for hobbyists and creatives to adorn their creations with. With so many options given it can be confusing as to what all these products should be used for. I will give you a breakdown of the differences between these Gels and Mediums.
Basically, they are all just colourless acrylic paint – they differ in viscosity and transparency. That is a Pouring Medium is runny and an Extra Heavy Gel is really thick, but they are basically the same thing – colourless paint. There are a range of viscosities available and are suitable for a variety of purposes.
The Extra Heavy, Heavy and Regular Gel can be mixed with paint and used to build texture. These will dry in peaks and visible heavy brushstrokes and can be moulded into any shape you want to build on the surface. Obviously, you would choose the Extra Heavy Gel if peaks and troughs is what you are after, while the regular Gel will give you visible brushstrokes. The Soft Gel can also be used to build texture but as the name suggests, is softer and will not hold peaks. These gels can be used as glue and can also be used to seal a surface, but as they hold their shape the surface would not be smooth.
The Mediums are better for this purpose as they are pourable and will level out for a smoother surface for a final sealing coat. The mediums can be mixed with paint to thin and create glazes, just as the gels can be mixed with runny paint, such as High Flow to thicken it up.
The Gels and Mediums all come in Matte, Satin or Gloss. Gloss is 100% translucent and will make your colours pop just like running a hose over your deck makes that surface gleam. Matte has a degree of opacity which can slightly dull the colours. I like using Gloss for two reasons – I like to see colours pop, and I like to be able to see where I have applied it. I use it to seal dry media such as crayon, pastel or oil sticks as I build up the layers in my work. I also paint it over collage to seal it also. Gloss Medium is the recommended sealant to prevent SID (Support Induced Discolouration).
A very Serious Artist
Golden has GAC 100 – 800 These are used for thinning paint and creating translucent glazes. The number refers to the viscosity once again – 100 being the thinnest, and 800 being the heaviest. They can be used on porous surfaces such as fabric to stiffen them when dry.
Gloss Glazing Liquid and Open Gels and Mediums are all designed to thin heavy paint to create glazes and to slow the drying time for detailed blending.
Just as in paint colour there are too many options for a Serious Artist to contend with. I use Gloss Medium for reasons stated above, Soft Gel for gluing collage and adhering works on paper to cradled panels (see previous blog for step by step instructions), Gloss Glazing Liquid for creating glazes and building transparent layers – although I also create glazes just using water as well. I don’t want beads, pumice or sand in my work and all the other bottles of acrylic would just clutter up my limited storage space.
Less is more, but some is great. And do you know what I love? None of it stinks.
Come and hang out with me in THE UPBEAT ARTISTS GROUP where I share more of my process. There is a wonderful supportive community growing there if you would like to be part of it.
If you would like to hear more from me through my weekly newsletter sign up here.
And lastly, check out my courses: stARTs where I teach 5 different ways to start an abstract painting, and Fix & Finish where I teach a process of navigating your way to finishing your work. Be the first to know when this course will be opening in October 2020 by getting on the FIND-OUT-MORE list.