Acrylics are one of the newest forms of art material. Oils can be dated back to the fifteenth century. Tempera has been around for thousands of years. And water colour has been around since humans figured the basic model of paint which takes us back to Cro-Magnon man.

Acrylics were first developed as a solvent-based artists' color in the early part of the twentieth century. The first water-borne acrylic (the kind we use today) was developed and launched in 1955. Combining the words " liquid texture", the product was named "Liquitex." This became a whole line of products specializing in acrylic paints. Other paint suppliers took Liquitex's formula and created a whole new world of painting.

The three basic elements of acrylic paint.

There three basic element to create paint. The pigment (the color), a vehicle (for getting the paint to the surface), and a binder (to make things stick). For acrylic, the pigment is the color of the paint the vehicle is a combination of water and acrylic polymer. The binder is the acrylic polymer without the water. Thats great but what hell is polymer? Its a long chemical chain made up of smaller, often identical molecules. A polymer is a lot like hooking up a long (sometimes really long) train. And when the train is fully assembled , it has the potential for added strength and stability as it locks into a tightly ordered structure. The final acrylic paint film is made of a stable polymeric structure that locks the pigment into place.

Squeezed from the tube acrylic paint is finely balanced dispersion of pigment in an emulsion of acrylic polymer and water. Emulsion is the mixture of water and acrylic polymer. The water serves to keep the emulsion liquid, and to prevent the acrylic polymer particles from getting to close and personal.

As water evaporates, or is absorbed into the canvas, the acrylic polymer particles come into direct contact, and fuse. The Polymer particles organize themselves into a stable, hexagonal structure, trapping the pigment in place. The stable paint film.

Lets hope that made sense!