Todays question is from Kathy and she asks:
“I’ve started painting with acrylics…can I use all my old oil paints interchangeably? I know I must use solvents for the oils, and water for the acrylics.to clean, etc…but when one medium dries, can I go over an area with the alternate color and medium? Also, would a pure linseed oil to thin work for both types of paint?”
Do you have any information that may help Kathy? Please leave your response in the comments box below.
The short answer is “NO”. You cannot use oil paints and acrylic paints interchangeably. The reason is that acrylic paints dry by the water evaporating out of them. Oil paints, on the other hand, dry more slowly by chemical reaction.
Now, you may do a thin underpainting with acrylics and once it’s thoroughly dry paint over the top with oil paints, but absolutely not the acrylic over oils. If you do that, the paints will likely crack.
Best wishes for your painting endeavors!
Hi Kathy.
You can create the first, basic layer with acrylics and the second with oils. Oils will stick to acrylics byt not the other way around.