Is it okay to mix different brands of acrylic paint?

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Is it okay to mix different brands of acrylic paint?

by Phyllis
(FL)

Reader Question: Can you intermingle different brands of acrylic paints? I inherited some Liquitex & Duro brand acrylic paints & just bought a few Golden. When I run out of what I have, I intend to buy only Golden but hate to waste these other brands. Thank you for your time. Phyllis

Hi Phyllis,

Yes, it is perfectly fine to inter-mix different brands of acrylic artist paints. I do it all the time! :)

However, I wasn't familiar with the Duro brand acrylics, and it seems from their website that Duro paints are created for use on masonry, walls, cement, etc, rather than for use in fine art paintings. I would therefore exercise caution with mixing Duro paints with artist acrylic paints, since the two are meant for two different purposes.

You could possibly use the Duro paints as an underpainting to cover large areas with paint, as long as the surface (canvas, wood, etc) has been properly primed first. You could also paint with Duro on top of a layer of artist acrylics. If you are experimental you could try mixing Duro with artist acrylics, but the results can't be guaranteed in terms of longevity or quality. But if you hate to waste paint and want to give it a try, why not? Just be aware that the outcome is unpredictable.

Now, when it comes to mixing artist acrylics (like Golden and Liquitex), that is indeed acceptable because artist acrylics are generally compatible. Even so, here are some things to keep in mind:

The mixture you create will adopt a combination of the characteristics of each brand. So if one is a Student Quality brand and the other is Artist Quality, the paint you mix will be somewhere in between. For instance, the resulting paint may not have the vibrancy or opacity you'd get if you'd have mixed 2 types of Artist Quality paint.

Similarly, if one brand is a heavy body acrylic and the other brand is a fluid acrylic, the mixture will be somewhere in between heavy and fluid, depending on the amounts you used. If you want to altar the consistency even further, you can use a gel or medium to make the acrylic mixture thinner or thicker.

Also, the chemical composition of different brands of acrylic paints may vary slightly, with some being more alkaline than others. Depending on the brands you mix, there is a slight chance that the mixture may turn out somewhat lumpy and strange. If this is the case, that particular mixture may not be useable, depending on what style you want to go for (maybe a strange, lumpy texture would work well on your painting, who knows?).

I hope that helps & Happy Painting!

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