Golden Open Acrylics Review

by Jason Grills
(Seattle)

You briefly mention Golden Open Acrylics , which are something I've thought of trying lately.

Have you tried them much? There is a great appeal in having easier blending paints, but I don't know if there are drawbacks, or if the advantages are worth shelling out the couple hundred dollars it would take to replace my current paints. Maybe I can get enough time to blend if I just use enough retarder... but then that wrecks the opacity.

Great site, keep it up, you've taught me a lot.

Hi Jason!

I haven’t yet tried Golden Open Acrylics myself – I plan to, but haven’t yet gotten around to it. In the meantime, I’ve been doing some research on what other artists have to say about these revolutionary new paints.

The vast majority of artists seem to love Golden Open Acrylics, although there are a few drawbacks. I’ve outlined the various pros and cons here:



Pros to Golden Open Acrylics:

• The major selling point of Golden Open Acrylics is the extended drying time, which allows you to do various techniques that are otherwise difficult with regular acrylics – such as blending, softening, feathering, subtle shading, glazing, and fine details such as wisps of hair and clouds.


• Golden Open Acrylics are available in 40 colors, which is a pretty decent range. They can be mixed with regular acrylics, so you don’t need to replace your entire set of paints – you can buy just a few key colors, then if you like how they work, buy more.


• By mixing Golden Open Acrylics with regular acrylics (or acrylic mediums), you can alter the drying time of both, essentially “speeding up” the drying time of the Open acrylics and “slowing down” the drying time of the regular acrylics.


• There are 3 acrylic mediums created specifically to use with Golden Open Acrylics: Open Gel (gloss and matte), Open Medium (gloss and matte) and Open Thinner. These mediums can further alter the consistency and performance of Golden Open Acrylics.


• Since Golden Open Acrylics stay wet longer, when you mix colors on your palette those color mixes will stay workable for much longer, too. No more throwing away dried paint or painstakingly remixing colors to get that perfect blend that you made the day before but had to wipe off your palette because you had no way of storing it… Since you won’t necessarily have to squeeze out new paint each day, this will save you money on paint, too.


• Plein-air painters who prefer acrylics over oils can enjoy the longer working time of Golden Open acrylics when working outside, because they won’t dry as quickly as normal acrylics do when exposed to wind and sun.


• Because Golden Open acrylics remain workable on your canvas, you can use techniques such as “lifting out” the paint to create highlights (similar to what you can do with watercolor) or reveal the color underneath.

Cons or Other Iffy Factors to Using Golden Open Acrylics:

• The biggest “complaint” about Golden Opens is that the paint is reportedly on the transparent side. Artists say that it takes many layers of Golden Open Acrylics to achieve the same coverage as they could get with regular acrylics, because it doesn’t have the same body and opacity.
  
  You could learn to work with that, though. The transparency of Golden Opens, in addition to the longer working time, make them a great candidate for acrylic glazing. Some people like to create “rough” underpaintings in normal acrylics, then do the smooth blending over top with Golden Open Acrylics. That way you get the best of both worlds.


• Some artists say that the colors look just the same dry as when they are wet, while others report an approximate 10% color shift when dried (usually darker than what they applied).


• If you like to paint in a thick, impasto style, then Golden Open acrylics are probably not right for you. Golden recommends that painters not exceed 1/16” thick. (If you look on a ruler, that’s about the size of a penny.) When Golden Opens are painted thickly, the paint can take months to dry.


• The paint seems to get tacky after an hour, but remains workable for much longer. You need to let your layers dry completely before you attempt to add a new layer, otherwise you risk ruining a layer that hasn’t set yet. This is something you could get used to, though.


• Since it takes much longer for the paint to dry thoroughly, Golden recommends waiting at least 30 days before varnishing. For people who like to finish a painting then sell it right away, this might be a hindrance. Even if the paint seems dry to the touch, it might still be wet under the surface, so varnishing the painting prematurely would capture that moisture inside the painting.

Above all, it seems that Golden Open acrylics are ideally suited for adaptable artists who would appreciate the ease of blending and artists who do not work in a thick style. Painting with Golden Opens will certainly be a learning curve for people who are already familiar with regular acrylics, as you’ll need to adjust your techniques and working processes to accommodate for the special qualities of Golden Open acrylics, which stay workable for hours.

Golden Open Acrylics would work well for acrylic painters who need to capture seamless transitions of color, such as the gradations of color in a sunset or the soft shading of a person’s cheek.

* It’s also worth noting that Golden Opens are not a “replacement” for oils, in that people who prefer oils may not automatically like the Golden Open acrylics. They are still very different from oils, each with their own qualities.

I hope that helps you decide whether or not you want to try Golden Open acrylics!

If anyone has tried Golden Open acrylics, please share your experiences and opinions of these paints by clicking the link below to post your comments. We'd love to hear what you think. Thanks!!