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 well suited for this and clearly designed to be used very thickly, with painting knives or by spreading the paint on by any other means in addition to very heavy impasto brushwork. The rocks on either side of the painting exploit what can be done with brush and knife, and contrast strongly with the flat areas of colour in the sea and the beach.
Image 3: ‘Beach and Sailboats’, Cryla Heavy Body Acrylic, 12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 40.5 cm). This was painted as you would expect any picture in oil or acrylic paint to be painted. There are washes, some heavy painting in the foreground and on the white sails, and a reasonably even distribution on the sky. The paint is very strong and powerful and the white obliterates anything underneath very positively. The thick creamy consistency of the paint makes it very easy to use and, for what might be called ‘normal painting’, very little water is needed to produce an ideal consistency of paint. The strength of colour and its quick-drying qualities combine to provide a most rewarding combination for painting quick sketches outdoors.
Image 4: ‘A Yacht in Cornwall’, Cryla Heavy Body Acrylic, 12 x 16 inches (30.5 x 40.5 cm). The advantage of this paint is that it handles extremely well when used thickly. However, some artists will want to use it in thin washes because of its high pigmentation and clarity of colour. So, somewhat unusually, this picture was done in thin washes of colour that were virtually watercolour washes – simply to see what this paint would do under these conditions – as many artists do use acrylics in this way. Here the pigment was most successful.
The colours were clear, brilliant and easily managed. The intentional dark colours behind the white yacht were chosen simply to see what variety could be achieved from a few of the new colours, and here Ultramarine Blue Green Shade was used with Cobalt Chromite Blue Red Shade and Cobalt Chromite Blue Green Shade.
Please contact S&S Wholesale Customer Service by telephone on 1300 731 529 for further information and stockists.