We have experimented with a few tricks on making acrylic paint dry slower, and you can check them out if you are looking for some good techniques to dry acrylic paint slowly.
How to stop acrylic paint from drying too fast
Reader Question: How do I stop the acrylic paint from drying out too fast when painting outside?
Great question! When you’re plein air painting with acrylics, the exposure to the open air can cause the acrylics to dry out even faster than usual – both on your palette and on your canvas. Here are some things you can do to make your acrylic paints stay wet longer while painting outside:
Tips for keeping your acrylic paints moist
- Bring a small spray bottle (also called a mister or atomizer) filled with water so that you can lightly mist your palette with water as often as necessary to keep the paints moist. Distilled water is recommended for best results, but if you don’t have any on-hand you can use normal tap water, too.
- Use a Stay-Wet Palette, such as the Masterson Sta-Wet Premier Palette (this links to Blick Art Materials, and if you make a purchase I get a small commission that helps support this site). This palette comes with a sponge layer that you dampen and place underneath an acrylic film. You mix your paints on the acrylic film, which stays wet because of the damp sponge underneath. When you combine the use of a Stay-Wet palette and an atomizer, you’ll be able to keep your paints moist from above and from below. If you need to save the colors you’ve laid out on your palette for later, replace the lid to securely seal the palette shut. The damp environment inside the sealed palette will keep your acrylic paints moist and usable for days.
- If you don’t have a Stay-Wet palette, here’s how you can make an easy alternative: Make a pile of 6-10 paper towels, then dampen the stack thoroughly with your atomizer. Squeeze your paints onto the damp paper towels. This will keep your paints moist from below. Spray them with your atomizer as needed to keep them moist from the top. The absorbency of the paper towels won’t allow for easy mixing, so you will need a separate palette for this. To mix colors, use your paintbrush or a palette knife to dab the colors you’ll need from your moist paper towels and transfer them onto your palette for mixing.
- Use an acrylic gel or medium that extends the “open” time of the acrylics, so that the acrylics will stay wet for longer periods of time. These acrylic mediums are usually called “retarders” or “slow-dry mediums”, and you’ll need to mix these into your acrylics after applying them to your palette.
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How long does it take for acrylic paint to dry?
On average, artist-quality acrylic takes 20-30 minutes to touch dry if used in a thin layer. Thicker layers will take 1-2 hours depending on the environment you’re painting in.
Acrylic paint is fully cured in 6 – 12 hours in a well aired, cool room.
In fact, 20-30 minutes is quite fast for any painting. But if you still have issues with your paint and its drying process, use one of the methods I suggest.
Why does acrylic paint dry fast?
Acrylic paint is water-based. The process of acrylic paint drying is the process of water and some other agents’ evaporation.
Based on it, the hotter environment is the faster will acrylics dry.
Acrylic paint follows several stages of drying: wet paint while we’re painting, touch dry (20-30 minutes after applying thin layer), and fully cured, solid (up to 12-24 hours). After this, acrylic paint starts its aging process.
Just a basic understanding of why and how your paint works will make you feel confident and free to experiment.
Why does acrylic paint dry slow or stop drying?
Environment, choice of surface and mediums, and the paint you use will influence the drying time of the acrylics.
If you think that your paint is drying too slow, check if there were any of these factors involved and try to avoid them later:
- you applied thick layers (more than 1 mm)
- your surface is glossy or non-absorbent at all
- you use stay-wet palettes
- you use paints with a longer open time, as Golden Open
- you use any of these mediums: extenders, retarders, slow-drying mediums, wetting spray
- you are used to spraying the back of your canvas or paint while working
- you added too much water to the paint slows down the evaporation process and damaged paint quality
- you paint in high humidity,
- the temperature in your room is below 65F (18C).
- you used to cover your painting with plastic. It will keep moisture and slow down the drying process.
If you recognize one or a couple of factors, your paint is likely to dry slower than it could normally. If it was your idea – fine. If you still want to make acrylic paint dry faster, go on reading.
PRECAUTION: Please, remember that cracking also happens when different layers dry at different rate. Make sure your experiments with drying time will not affect paint quality and overall painting longevity.
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Spraying Your Pallet As Per Need
The use of water on your palette is a simple yet effective means of keeping your paint moist. Fill your palette and paint pools halfway with water and spritz them with a spray of water every few minutes to keep them clean and ready to use.
Using this approach, you can keep your paint wet and functional for more extended periods while still keeping the convenience of setup and use.
Check For The Artist Grade Label
There are two types of paint: student and artist. The ratio of pigment and binder, or quality, is what sets them apart. We frequently assume that student-grade paint dries rapidly, and that the cheaper the color, the quicker it dries.
Although artist-grade paint lasts longer, it still dries swiftly. Artist quality paints include Deco Art Traditions Acrylic Paints, Pebeo Artists’ Acrylic Paints, Chroma Atelier Interactive Artists’ grade Acrylic Paints Utrecht Artists’ Acrylic Paints, and others.
Using Plastic Wrap
Using plastic wrap to airtight your pallet or container can be beneficial. You can also recycle any glass container from your kitchen and store your paint mixes safely in them. This will slow down the drying process at the time of painting.
Make sure to mist the paint mixes lightly with water and seal the lid of the container tightly before securing your paint for the next season.
Just follow these instructions properly, if you want your paint to last for many days to a week. To ensure that the seal on the lid is as tight as possible, cover the jar firmly using a plastic wrap prior to putting the cover on it to provide additional protection.
