Understand your acrylic mediums and gels and start using them with real intention.
 
Acrylic mediums and gels are some of the most useful tools in a painter's studio. With the right foundational knowledge, you can use them to build luminous glazes, rich surface texture, and layered, complex paintings, and this guide gives you everything you need to do exactly that.
 
The Language of Surface: Acrylic Mediums & Gels is a 50 page practical studio resource covering everything from the basic science of acrylic polymer, to a product-by-product breakdown of 16 individual mediums, gels, and pastes. It's designed not as a project book, but as a practice builder giving you the knowledge and understanding to make confident, intentional choices at every stage of your painting.
 
What's inside
 
Drawing directly from studio practice, this guide takes you through 7 chapters of clear, process-led learning:
 
Properties & Effects: how acrylic polymer works, why binder integrity matters, and how transparency, colour shift, surface sheen, and layering principles affect every decision you make with mediums and gels
Product Guide: 16 mediums, gels, and pastes covered individually, including flow medium, glazing medium, pouring medium, slow medium, matte and gloss gels, clear tar gel, pumice gel, fibre paste, crackle paste, ceramic stucco, and modeling paste, with handling notes and practical uses for each
Practical Tips: compatibility with mixed media work, using mediums and gels as adhesives, and troubleshooting the most common problems
Studio Recipes: six ready-to-try formulas including luminous glaze, textured underpainting, gravity lines, and absorbent landscape ground
Paint with Purpose: a practical decision-making framework for selecting the right medium for your painting goals by surface quality, texture, drying time, colour intensity, layer stage, and final sheen
Printable Studio Guide: a quick-reference chart to keep at your workspace while you paint
 
This guide is perfect for:
 
Acrylic painters who want to understand what mediums and gels actually do and stop reaching for water out of habit
Mixed media artists wanting to use gels, pastes, and texture mediums more confidently and intentionally
Artists working in layers who want to build stronger, more stable paint films
Painters curious about glazing, surface texture, or extending their paint in ways that preserve colour integrity
 
Download instantly and start making material choices that genuinely serve your work and enhance it in all the right ways.
 
Instant PDF download. 50 pages, full colour. Printable studio guide included.