Country Painting - Decoart Acrylic Colors -

Country Painting – Decoart Acrylic Colors –

In Country Painting, the acrylic colors Decoart are the most widely used.

The Americana colors by Decoart are the most commonly used colors by American artists and anyone who paints using the Country Painting technique.

They are acrylic colors, water-based, and currently there are 276 shades available. They have excellent lightfastness, are very opaque,  can be mixed together, and can be used on almost any surface.

I have been using them for years and I can assure you that I have open jars that have been around for a long time and they are still absolutely perfect!

Most of the colors have excellent coverage even with one coat, but usually when I apply the basecoat of a project, I always use a couple of coats.

However, there are some colors that are less opaque; you may have already experienced some “difficulty” in applying certain shades of oranges, greens, or reds.

Decoart acrylic colors are divided into three types: opaque – semi-opaque – transparent

Opaque colors are those with the greatest coverage already from the first coat, semi-opaque ones like the previous ones do not present major "problems" although in this case I absolutely recommend at least two coats, while transparent colors are those that, during the application of the basecoat, turn out to be a bit more "challenging". ( You can find the Decoart table at the bottom of the article)

The biggest difficulties I encountered in using these colors are essentially two: 

• even after applying three coats, the coverage is still insufficient 

• the appearance is not uniform, it looks almost blotchy with some areas more "covered" and others more transparent.

Even continuing to give coat after coat, the situation doesn't improve much.

How to achieve an excellent result with transparent colors?

To solve this annoying issue, I did some “experiments” and in the end, I found what I believe is a good solution for achieving an excellent result easily and quickly.

When I need to apply a basecoat with “transparent” colors instead of doing it “full”, I treat it as if I were doing a “wash” … don't worry, it's easier than it sounds!

The “wash” effect is used when you want to achieve a watercolored basecoat, especially when you want to let the background show through, such as the wood grain or to create special effects later on.

Back to our case, I simply dilute the color so that with each brushstroke it gets absorbed evenly. (The diluted color is absorbed better and faster than the “pure” color) This way, I don’t create spots or thick areas and achieve an even and optimal coverage with 4/5 coats. (Yes, I know it seems like a lot, but they are really quick to apply and dry quickly too) Obviously, the more “watercolored” coats you apply, the fuller the background will appear; it's up to you to decide when you're satisfied with the result.

Sometimes these small and simple tips make our work easier and simpler!

I hope this little advice has been as helpful to you as it has been for me!!!

Happy Painting 🎨
Paola

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