Painting has been around for centuries. In fact, prehistoric art in the form of rock painting dates to more than 40,000 years ago! Over the years, many art forms and movements have been established, each reflecting a unique style that drew on the influences of that era. Today, painting is still a popular art form, and plays an important role in early childhood development, self-expression, grief therapy, education, and wellbeing.
Whether you’re an emerging artist just starting out, have young creatives keen to get painting, or are an established artist, we sat down with resident expert and artist, Marc Mamet, to simplify the main types of paint we use today, and how they might work for you.
Acrylic Paint
Acrylic paint has always been an art room staple. What makes it so popular as a student paint, Marc informs us, is its affordability and the fact that you don’t need any solvents to work with it, only water. Water can be both added to the paint to change its consistency, and in order to clean your brushes. This makes it an easy and versatile medium for artists of all ages and skill levels. Harsh solvents are often needed to dilute paint and clean paint brushes, but not when it comes to acrylic. Being able to dip your brush into highly pigmented acrylic paint, transfer it to your surface, and then effortlessly clean off the paint before changing colours is a huge benefit, and a great time saver too.
Acrylic paint can also be used in a fashion called impasto, Marc says, where the paint is laid on thickly, demonstrating texture. It’s a fast-drying paint that is water-resistant when dry, making it durable, and non-toxic, so it’s safe for schools, daycares and kindergartens too.
Our Pick:
Micador Acrylic Paint dries to a beautiful satin finish, and boasts high pigment content for strong colours. It can be used thickly or in thin, translucent washes, making it a versatile medium to work with. Colours blend easily and are permanent when dry, so can be painted over without disturbing underlying layers.
Watercolour
Watercolour's beauty lies in its fluidity. There's something whimsical about this painting technique, the way colours seem to dance freely on the page without harsh boundaries. Watercolour paint is basically water that has been tinted, explains Marc, so the attraction to this medium is its transparency. It is most commonly used with watercolour paper, made partially or entirely of cotton that is cold-pressed to minimise distortion when wet.
Our Pick:
Micador For Artists Brilliant Watercolours offer vibrant, highly pigmented colour with an aniline ink-like intensity. Discs twist together for easy use and storage and the lid doubles as a palette for art anywhere. More than half of the colours in our full range have a lightfastness rating of 3* or higher, with the colour layer lasting in excess of 25, 50 or 100 years.
Oil Paint
Oil paint has always seemed like a slightly daunting medium, but Marc assures us it’s actually quite forgiving considering the length of time it takes the paint to dry. The beauty of slow-drying paint is that you can start painting and then come back to it hours later and continue to work on it. The viscosity of oil paint can be modified with the addition of a solvent, and you also need solvent to clean the oil paint off your brushes. Different media can be used to slow or fasten the paint dry time.
Our Pick:
Micador For Artists Picture Varnish is a high quality, clear varnish that acts as a permanent protection for oil and acrylic painting. It is available in three perfect finishes for a range of results: Gloss, Satin and Matt, and boasts a water-like clarity that will not yellow with age.
Tempera
Tempera was originally made with egg yolk combined with pigment, however, nowadays is more like a poster paint similar to gouache, just without the transparency. It’s a low-mess and washable solution for the home and at school that is fast-drying and long-lasting.
Our Pick:
early stART Low-Mess Washable Paint Discs are suitable for children as young as 2 years old. Bright pigments offer vibrant colours that easily flow onto paper with a wet paintbrush. Available in Bright and Fluoro varieties and in a sturdy tray for easy paint access, this tempera paint set is perfect for young artists starting out.
Gouache
Gouache is basically watercolour that’s opaque, Marc shares. Where watercolour pigments become enmeshed with the paper surface, with gouache, the colour sits on the surface, offering a more even and continuous colour. Because of this property, Marc says, gouache is also known as designer colours, because the colour is uniform and consistent. This flat, even colour is what is used in the design of clothing and textiles, as well as for posters, illustrations and other design work.
Our Pick:
The 3060V Brush Series by Micador For Artists offers affordable, round soft hair brushes suitable for general-purpose art, plaster painting and touch-up work. An excellent brush for gouache and watercolour novices, it is set in a vulcanised bonding agent to allow for use with solvent-based paints.
Watch Marc explain the basic brush types for painting oil, acrylic and wet media such as watercolour, gouache and inks in this video. Learn the different shapes, components, and properties of each brush and their suited applications.
Wherever your painting journey may take you, we have a range of reliable, high quality and excellent value products to support, encourage, and fuel your creative flame. Join our journey to become Australia's most green, most caring, and most loved brand.
