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François Vallières

How much water can you add to acrylic paint?


How much water can you safely add to acrylic paint without affecting its integrity?


It is possible to add water to the acrylic to make it more fluid, but it is advisable to respect the ratio of the paint manufacturer, in principle around 50% water, otherwise there is a risk that the binder of the acrylic paint is no longer effective.

Depending on your project, if you need to make your acrylic paint in tubes very fluid, it is possible to avoid using water by taking mediums designed for this purpose, or even to use a thinning additive flow-aid from Liquitex for example.



It should be noted that by adding a medium or water, you will affect the opacity of your paint by making it more transparent. If this is not your goal, it is better to use a fluid acrylic paint such as Golden fluids for example.


How much water can you add to acrylic paint?

Image from Golden's site: Image 2: Test Panel of GOLDEN Heavy Body Pthalo Blue Green Shade and Yellow Oxide thinned 3:1, 1:1, 1:3, and 1:20 paint to water. Adhesion tests were done after 24 hrs, while cotton swab water sensitivity tests were done after 24 hrs. and 1 week.


Here is a link for an article in English from the company Golden which explains the impacts of adding water to acrylic paint. Although it is possible under certain circumstances to exceed this ratio, the conclusion of the article advises that you stick to the more conservative ratio of 1:1, or 50% water to 50% paint, to avoid certain problems.https://justpaint.org/how- much-water-can-you-safely-add.../




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