DERIVAN IS STILL A LEADER IN ACRYLIC PAINTS

Derivan, the first company in Australia to manufacture acrylic paints, grew from two men who became friends after meeting over a drink in the 1950s. The company originally began in 1964 in a stable complex at Kings Cross in Sydney. The partners moved to larger premises in Alexandria in 1970, and from there to Mortlake where they remained until May 2009 when they outgrew their building again and moved to their current location at Rhodes – right on the water.

Derivan is a family company and although it has become a multinational operation, it is still run by the families of the two men who developed it from the early days. There are manufacturing sites spanning three continents, and Derivan products are sold in the USA, Canada, Asia, Europe, and South Africa.

Acrylics are the most versatile of paints. Many mediums can be mixed with them to produce countless different effects. The paint dries naturally to a satin smooth finish; however both matt and gloss mediums are available should an alternative finish be preferred.

If texture is required, then the sky’s the limit … with the addition of impasto or gel medium, or one or more of the 18 Matisse Dry Mediums. One of the benefits of acrylic paint is its fast drying time – however there is now a choice of two mediums to slow this down when required: Drying Retarder or Open Medium. Open Medium is a gel-like substance that will maintain the consistency of the paint, whereas Drying Retarder is a liquid and may dilute the paint a fraction (although such minimal quantities of Retarder are required that the effect would be negligible). Derivan recommends that artists do not use a hairdryer to aid in drying paint, as that will only dry the surface of the paint and may have adverse consequences if moisture is trapped underneath the dry top layer.

It is useful to understand the information on the tubes or jars of acrylics. Derivan’s range of Matisse artists’ acrylics, in both the tubes and the jar, are clearly marked down the right-hand side with ‘Flow’ or ‘Structure’. A ‘swoosh’ of the actual colour has been hand-painted onto each tube. Under the swoosh (or in the case of jars, first) comes the name of the colour – for example Yellow Oxide. Below the name of the colour is the ‘Series’. Series range from Series 1 to Series 7 and relate to the price range of the pigment that produces the colour of the paint. Although all paints in a range are made in the same way, the cost of the pigments varies immensely as some pigments are available from only one country in the world.

Next comes a row of letters and numbers that is important to be aware of. Yellow Oxide says PY42, which means that it has a single yellow pigment. The majority of Matisse artists’ acrylics are single pigment colours which will give you a clearer cleaner blend when mixing colours together. However some colours have multiple pigments, for example Australian Sky Blue. This colour has PB29 (you guessed it, blue) and Pw6, a white. When acrylics are mixed with a medium to glaze (paint a transparent layer), colours containing a white pigment will veil the layer underneath to some extent, and this may not be what the artist intends. Nevertheless it is valid to glaze with a white pigment, but just to make it interesting it is not called glazing any more but ‘sfumato’.

Glazing with a white and a little colour added can be fantastic to make mountains recede into the distance in a landscape painting.

Understanding what pigments are contained in a colour can also aid in colour mixing.

Under the pigments is a row of asterisks which relate to the lightfastness of the pigments. The artist can be assured that all Matisse paints in the Flow and Structure ranges, and the inks and the background paints, have an ASTM rating (American Standards and Testing Methods) of 1 or 2 on a scale that goes from 1 (best) to 5. Four asterisks denotes a 1 rating and three asterisks denotes a 2 rating. Both these ratings are considered to have excellent lightfastness, with only ratings 3 to 5 being considered fugitive (pigments that will change over time with exposure to light).

Last is the conversion of the amount of paint (for example, 75ml) in the container to the US scale (2.53 fl oz).

Another feature of acrylic paints is that they are suitable for many surfaces. Slick surfaces should be pre-coated with a medium for the paint to adhere to.

For more information, it is suggested that you acquire a copy of the Derivan Matisse Technical Guide – available from all good art shops. However the best way to learn more about acrylic paints is to use them. So … start painting!

For more information about brilliant Derivan products, contact David Mclachlan by telephone on 02 9736 2022 or via email: sales@matisse.com.au