I have a couple ideas for pieces I'd like to try doing, but right now, I'm still at the very early stages. I've been going through the free lessons at Acrylic Painting the Cheap and Easy Way, because I like structure. If I had time/money to take a course, I would totally do that. But for now, internet lessons are my friend. It was pretty cool what colors you could mix with just black, white, red, yellow and blue. (In theory, all of them. :-) Within an hour of practice, I managed my very first acrylic painting. (This painting actually took about ten minutes to paint.) I like it, but I don't think the professionals have anything to worry about. :-)
The original:
Can acrylic paints be diluted a bit with water, or some other solvent to give you more time before they dry?
You can dilute them with water, but that mostly just changes how they go on the page. You can get or make a stay-wet palette that keeps them wet noticeably longer. Or you can add retarder to the paint, to keep they wet as long as oil paints. But a) it adds a bit of gloss, and b) it’s sort of cheating. 🙂 Part of the point of acrylics, I think, is to be free and bold with them.