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This article is written by Barbara Rankin

ColourArte is the manufacturer of some amazing paint products, such as Radiant Gels, Radiant Rains, Primary Elements Artist Pigments™, Silks Acrylic Glaze, and Twinkling H2Os In this article, I am going to share some examples of the diversity, as well as my observations, using these products.

Following each product description, I have prepared a white tag, all exactly the same, to show you the diversity of each ColourArte product, simply by varying the mediums.  For beautifully finished projects, I would invite you to visit the ColourArte Blog.

Let’s start with Radiant Gels Dimensional Paint, the newest product in the ColourArte line. This is a thick, shimmery paint that can be used for many different mixed media applications.  It not only can be used as a paint and brushed out to a beautiful, transparent color, but can also be spread with a spatula,leaving brush strokes and lots of texture behind.  It is perfect for applying through stencils, too. It currently comes in 20 luscious colors.

1. Gel brushed directly onto tag with paint brush, dries dimensional and textured    with my brushstrokes.
2. Gel brushed directly onto tag with a wet paint brush, just enough water to thin the gel to a more spreadable consistency without losing color depth.  Some brush stroke textures remains.
3. Gel brushed directly onto tag with paint brush and water to add a very smooth, light color to the tag.  The color value does not change.

Radiant Gel spread through a stencil and left to dry.  A thicker image can be made by spreading more gel over the stencil, while the colors remain true.

Next up, we have Radiant Rains in two different bottles.  The Color Concentrates come in dauber bottles, while the Shimmering Mists come in, you guessed it, mister bottles.  There are 21 Color Concentrates and 26 Shimmering Mists.

1. Mist sprayed directly to tag.  Variations in colors, textures, and shimmer are achieved with the mister bottle, and can be diluted with water when working on your mixed media projects.
2. Mist sprayed onto a craft sheet and color picked up with a brush and painted onto tag.
3.  Mist sprayed onto a craft sheet and color picked up with a very wet brush and painted onto tag.  The water lightens the color but does not lose its color value.

1. Dauber applied to tag with one swipe.
2. Dauber applied to tag with 2-3 swipes, added color depth.
3. Dauber applied to tag with 5 swipes for increased intensity.

Colors can be applied very quickly to backgrounds using the dauber bottles.

Then there are the well-known Twinkling H20s Shimmering Watercolors.  These are cakes of intense shimmering watercolor that you activate with water.  The colors are so concentrated that a little goes a very long way.  You can add less water to turn them into a creamy watercolor paint, or add more water to increase transparency without losing color value.  There are 210 colors and sold in sets or individually, as well as in two jar sizes.

1. Twinks mixed with small amount of water to a creamy consistency for true color depth and shimmer.
2. Twinks applied with a bit more water for lighter color and increased transparency.
3. Twinks applied with even more water, increasing color lightness and transparency without losing color value.

Next we have the Primary Elements Artist Pigments™.  Artist Pigments are powdered, highly concentrated colors that are perfect for everything, including mixed media.  They can easily be mixed with gum arabicbinders or any acrylic medium to make your own paint.  They can also be mixed with water-based acrylic glazes, gel mediums, and even thicker mediums like molding pastes.  Imagine the possibilities.  And it takes the tiniest amount of powder to make vivid colors, or use less pigment and more medium to decrease it’s intensity. They are available in 198 sumptuous colors.

1. PE (Primary Elements) added to gel medium
2. PE added to white gesso (gives a chalky appearance)
3. PE added to clear gesso (feels chalky, but does not change the color)
4. PE added to pouring medium (does not change the color and allows the shimmer to show through, as well as drying hard and thick.  Can be poured, dropped, or drizzled onto project for added dimension.
5. PE added to Gum Arabic.  I think this gives the truest color and shimmer, most closely resembling Twinkling H20s.
6. PE added to hard molding paste.  Dries with texture without losing color intensity.

Last, but not least, are the gorgeous Silks Acrylic Glazes. These are the most luscious, shimmery paints I’ve ever seen. They are iridescent, semi-transparent, and mix beautifully together, giving you even more color choices. They come in 92 colors, with six new colors just coming out this month.

1.  Forest Green Silks
2.  Bolivian Blue Silks
3. Forest Green and Bolivian Blue Silks combined
4. Pomegranate Silks
5. Emperor’s Gold Silks
6. Pomegranate and Emperor’s Gold Silks combined

This is just a “drop in the bucket” as to all of the possibilities for using these products.  I have touched on just a few.  Think about making your own sample book of “recipes” for color mixtures, using tags such as these, to refer to when you need just that right color or texture.

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Barbara is a mixed media artist who loves to teach.  She loves to learn new techniques and to share her knowledge with other artists.    She is a contributing artist in a book:  Make it in Minutes: Mini Albums, and has been published in several paper and online magazines.  She is currently on four design teams, ColourArte, Sin City Stamps, Altered Pages, and House of Cards Challenge Blog, and has served as a design team member for The Robin’s Nest and Creative Paperclay®, as well as guest designer for Craftwell USA, Unruly Paper Arts.  She has also been asked to be the guest designer Gina’s Lasercut Designs in June 2015.

She lives in the Memphis, Tennessee are with her very supportive husband of 32 years, and her two Yorkies, Chloe and Zoe.

You can see more of Barbara’s work on her blog at Black Hole Art Studio or via Facebook – Black Hole Art Studio.

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Disclosure: These paints were given to me by ColourArte for the purpose of designing projects as part of the design team.  All opinions are my own and may not reflect those of the MixedMediaArt team. Some links on this page may be affiliate links and any purchases help to support the ongoing work by MixedMediaArt.

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