Cranfield acrylic paints

This highly opaque primer offers a background of intense white. It’s ideal for most painting surfaces, including canvas, wood or board. Very flexible and ready for use undiluted, our Acrylic Primer dries quickly with a near-matt finish. It is suitable for acrylic and oil paintings with no sizing required.

Choose this product if you are looking for all the ease of use of our Spectrum Acrylic Primer, but with enhanced ‘tooth’ to penetrate the support and provide high adhesion.
Both primers may be tinted with acrylic colours to provide a coloured base if required, and are now available in black.

Choose this product if you are looking for a beautiful velvet black with all the ease of use of our Spectrum Gesso Primer. It has a fantastic finish with astonishing covering power and with enhanced ‘tooth’ to penetrate the support and provide high adhesion.

Covent Garden Primer was designed originally for the Royal Opera House to prepare vacuum formed scenery for painting. This water based primer can be tinted, and is ideal for difficult surfaces such as PVC, clear plastics and rubber flooring. Covent Garden Primer is designed to be a first coat before conventional painting.
A test area on difficult surfaces should be prepared before treating the whole surface. Check for lack of adhesion, cracking, bleeding and other defects before main application.

If your work calls for a transparent primer, our Clear Acrylic Canvas Sealer is the perfect solution. Separate size is not required. You can also use this product under conventional acrylic primer when solvent|oil based washes are used, to prevent penetration of the primer.

Our higher plasticiser level PVA Homopolymer is designed for use as a binder. It dries to a flexible, satin finish, and may also be used as an adhesive.

To extend your acrylic colours and increase gloss, choose our Acrylic Copolymer Emulsion. This 100% acrylic resin can be used in any proportion.

Our Matt Acrylic Copolymer Emulsion is a 100% acrylic resin, with a matt finish. Use it in any proportion to mix with your acrylic colours to maintain viscosity and consistency of the paint.

Another option for extending your acrylic colours and increasing gloss is our Acrylic Gel medium. Performing similarly to our Acrylic Copolymer Emulsion, its gel form retains the original, acrylic colour viscosity and consistency. Again, use it in any proportion.

This extending gel medium performs the same as Acrylic Gel but dries to a matt finish, allowing you to reduce the gloss of your acrylic colours. Use in any proportion.

To help you achieve a high-gloss smooth finish with reduced brush marks, add our Acrylic Glazing Medium to the Spectracryl colours of your choice. Please note that this medium is not intended for use as a varnish – see our range of acrylic varnishes for an alternative.

To achieve effects with acrylics requiring a longer working time, especially when higher ambient temperatures are working against you, our Gel Retarder is ideal. The amount you need to add will depend on prevailing working conditions.

Our Screenprint Gel is formulated for use with acrylic colours for screen-printing, enabling you to continue painting for a working shift without drying hard on the screen. Add Screenprint Gel up to 25% by volume, and dry paints with hot air, infrared, a drying tunnel or normally overnight at room temperature.

This liquid can be used sparingly to thicken PVA and acrylic emulsions, where flow is not required. It should be added drop by drop with vigorous stirring. Some users may want to dilute with water prior to mixing. Recommended maximum proportion is 3%.

When you’re looking for an opaque matt finish from our Spectracryl colours, our Opaque Acrylic Paste is an ideal extender and can be used in any ratio. Some artists use it for modelling, and further thickening of the Opaque Acrylic Paste can be obtained by adding Polymeric Thickener by the drop.

Use this to create flat finishes when painting thinly and where colour inrtensity and clarity is needed.

This is a hard, acrylic varnish for the protection of outdoor acrylic paintings and installation art. This varnish can be thinned with water. It is not graffiti proof, but will resist dirt and grime. Apply on warm dry days – ideally when there is a slight breeze to aid a steady drying speed. Apply only on to acrylic paint surfaces that has thoroughly dried. It is better to apply two or three thin coats of varnish rather than one very thick coat! When very thick coats are applied, the result can be disappointingly cloudy. The Exterior Acrylic Varnish (Mural Protector) will not provide UV protection, but will extend the life time of the art work beneath. RESIN: Acrylic Polymer SOLVENT : Water

Made from a white spirit-soluble acrylic resin, for use on acrylic paintings. Brushed thinly, this varnish will give smooth gloss finish and can be removed with white spirit. RESIN: Isobutylmethyacrylate (High Molecular Wieight Acrylic Resin) SOLVENT:White Spirit

Achieve a smooth matt finish on acrylic paintings with this acrylic resin varnish, soluble in white spirit. RESIN: Isobutylmethyacrylate (High Molecular Weight Acrylic Resin) SOLVENT:White Spirit

This is an acrylic varnish with a glossy finish, ideal for use where brush mark effects are required. Apply to a wide variety of paint surfaces including inkjet prints to achieve intensified colours and an attractive ‘oil painting’ effect to printed work. Water-based dye inks should be sealed first before application. Protect from frost and use at room temperature. RESIN: Acrylic Polymer SOLVENT: Water