
GOLDEN Retarder: Slow-Drying Additive for Acrylic Painting
Learn the keys of how adding Retarder into Acrylic Paint increases the amount of painting time, improving blending , shading, and paint applications.
Being able to make paint from pigment powder is empowering and opens up possibilities. While the steps are straightforward, one might have to experiment for a while to get to a formulation that works for a specific application. In this article we provide a general recipe for making acrylic paints from scratch. Please keep in ... Read more
New pigmented QoR Watercolors New Iridescent and Interference QoR Watercolors GOLDEN introduced new colors to QoR Watercolors in February of 2024, six months after this article about our lightfast testing of the entire QoR watercolor line. The newest colors were not included in the article since the paints were not yet available to artists. We tested ... Read more
Mark Golden: Gordon, thank you so much for allowing me to explore your story and share it with our artist community. As our newest Materials and Applications Specialist, I’m sure they will get to know you and certainly appreciate your expertise, so thank you for this opportunity. Gordon Millsaps: Thanks for showing interest. Mark: You ... Read more
A pastel painting radiates color from a matte pigment-rich surface. This distinctive medium is also incredibly fragile, so pastel works are typically displayed behind glass. Fixative coatings provide stabilization, keeping the delicate dry pigment particles from falling off the surface and landing on the glass or frame. We often receive questions from artists regarding fixatives ... Read more
By Golden Artist Colors At Golden Artist Colors, we’re deeply committed to developing and supporting materials that reflect the real-world needs and preferences of artists. That’s why we regularly turn to professional painters for insight—not just about how our products perform, but how they feel, mix, and function in the studio. Earlier this year, we ... Read more
Since their introduction in 2007, PanPastel Artist Pastels have inspired the pastel world with their pan format and sponge applicators, allowing for smooth, even applications, soft fades and gradients. They combine the visual power of pure pigments with the mixability of paint and can be used with almost any other drawing or painting material, making ... Read more
In our investigation of the embrittlement of oil paints containing zinc oxide (see Sarah Sands’ 2018 article Zinc Oxide – Reviewing the Research), we made a lab trial containing titanium dioxide (PW6, “TiO2”) and 6% zinc oxide (PW4, “ZnO”) that used stand oil instead of our standard refined linseed oil. Two years later, we noticed ... Read more
Today’s artist has access to an abundance of colorants, including Fluorescent and Phosphorescent pigments, which are members of the “Luminescent Family”. Few, if any, other colorants rival their vibrant allure. Whether applied as paint or encapsulated in resins, glass or plastic, these materials have always held an aura of mystery and intrigue. Part of this ... Read more

Learn the keys of how adding Retarder into Acrylic Paint increases the amount of painting time, improving blending , shading, and paint applications.

I think we all know the feeling. You pause for a moment looking back towards a house or an apartment, a surround of land or the last vestige of a city’s skyline. It is always a very particular place, a very precise moment. You take things in, a slow deep

Glare and reflections are the typical challenge when photographing paintings with a glossy finish. We can do our best by photographing in indirect sunlight, which provides the best lighting, and eliminate shadows and “hot spots” as best we can, and still find that the light distorted the representation of our

Please Note: What follows is an update to long-term testing that we first wrote about in 2018. The original articles provide important background and context for understanding the current results, and can be found here: Zinc Oxide – Reviewing the Research, Zinc Oxide – Warnings Cautions and Best Practices, and

Please Note: What follows is an update to long-term testing that we first wrote about two and a half years ago. The original article provides important background and context for understanding the current results, and can be found here: On the Yellowing of Oils Yellowing after 5 years It’s the

Imagine if you will, the scene: the artist in their studio, clothing covered in paint, standing above, next to or on top of canvas laid upon the floor, fully animated and wild broad gestures halted by short deliberate movements; using their whole body to fill the enormity of the painting

This is a common question that we field here in the Materials & Applications Specialists department. The answers are varied and depend a lot on the specific application, performance requirements, and placement or location of the artwork or object. But, before any discussion can begin, we need to define what

We hope Just Paint has been a valuable resource for artists, educators, material scientists and conservators to allow us to share our research and insights on the range of products we produce. I am seizing this space to extend a personal thank you to all of you who have supported our

Genuine Indian Yellow was prized for its transparency, depth of color and mixing properties with notable applications in landscape painting. Its origin was and is still, a curiosity. Recently, a 19th c. sample of Indian Yellow pigment was generously donated to Golden Artist Colors by Brian Baade, Paintings Conservator and

Have you ever stood in the aisle of your favorite art supply retailer, or stared online at a color chart with awe (and maybe a little bit of intimidation) of the vast selection before you? The workhorse behind this range of colors is pigment – finely powdered insoluble particles available