Artists’ Paints
CRYLA ARTISTS’ HEAVY BODY ACRYLIC COLOURS FROM S&S WHOLESALE
Artist Tom Robb prepared this article about a wonderful artists’ product which he tested recently. The article first appeared in the November issue of ‘the Artist’ magazine and it has been reproduced with their permission.
Daler-Rowney introduced the first Artists’ Acrylic Colours to Europe in 1963. Since then there has been a constant programme of technical improvement, and today Cryla continues to surpass every international standard.
The Cryla Artists’ Heavy Body Acrylic Colours’ main characteristic is the thick buttery consistency. The paints have a very uniform and even eggshell finish across the entire range of colours and there is minimal colour shift from wet to dry.
The consistency is such that when applied in heavy impasto, with brush or knife, the paints retain the intended texture – which is important when these techniques are used.
Among the new colours available are yellows, blue, violet, greens, reds, browns, blacks and metallics. These new colours are a most helpful addition to the existing range of Cryla acrylics. Many artists will find them useful for extending their palette colours, especially as they can be used straight from the tube without the addition of any other colour.
The metallics of course have their own particular uses and have a brilliant light reflective appearance; they add particular interest when mixed with other non-metallic colours.
It’s worth trying out all the colours in this new range as you may want to add some to your permanent palette.
Orange Box – Daler-Rowney Cryla Artists’ Heavy Body Acrylic Colour is available from good art shops.
Image 1: ‘Evening Harbour’, Cryla Heavy Body Acrylic, 16 x 12 inches (40.5 x 30.5 cm). The new range of colours includes Naples Yellow, Metallic White and Indian Yellow. Here these three colours were used extensively in heavy brushwork together with Metallic Black, Carbon Black and Manganese Blue Hue. Painting quickly and heavily, I took advantage of the quick-drying properties of the paint to use a dry brushing technique to explore the shapes and colours of the boats; the brilliance of the white and yellow quickly produced the desired image. Some paints produce a glossy finish when applied very heavily, but these have a pleasant eggshell finish. The heavy dry brushed impasto paint of the boats works well in contrast to the sky and sea on the horizon. The boats come forward from the background both in tone and texture, and provide a successful feeling of distance. The Naples Yellow seems an odd colour to use for clouds, but in this particular case the strong evening sun is reflected in the clouds and the water. Here the Naples Yellow was used straight from the tube and was the perfect colour to capture this image of warmth, reflected light and fading sun. The variety that can be achieved in washes or heavy dry brushwork is most impressive.
Image 2: ‘Beach in Portugal’, Cryla Heavy Body Acrylics, 16 x 12 inches (40.5 x 30.5 cm). Acrylic paint in any form can be used to exploit its advantages in flat areas of colour and hard-edge finish. Here I used the two new blues for the sky – Cobalt Chromite Blue Red Shade and Cobalt Chromite Blue Green Shade. The two greens of the sea in the middle of the picture are Cobalt Chromite Green and Yellow Green. The foreground is Naples Yellow and Indian Yellow Hue. The rocks on either side are mixtures of the Metallic Black and Carbon Black with Vandyke Brown Hue and Naples Yellow Hue. A brush was used for the flat areas of colour and the rocks and foreground were painted using a palette knife in addition to heavy brushwork. The Cryla Heavy Body colours are particularly
