A Comprehensive Guide to Liquitex Mediums & Varnishes:

Enhance, Protect, and Transform Your Art

Introduction

What if you could make your acrylic paint do exactly what you want—flow like watercolor, hold bold textures, extend drying time, or create glass-like finishes? That’s where Liquitex mediums and varnishes come in.

This guide is designed to help you:

✔ Choose the right Liquitex medium to enhance your painting style.
✔ Learn expert mixing techniques to avoid cracking, cloudiness, or dull finishes.
✔ Master varnishing for long-lasting artwork with a professional touch.

Whether you’re an experienced artist looking to push creative boundaries or a beginner wanting to get pro-level results, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know—with clear explanations, practical tips, and hands-on exercises.

Table of Contents

• Liquitex Mediums: What They Do and How to Use Them
  • Acrylic Gel Mediums
  • Acrylic Fluid Mediums
  • Acrylic Texture Gels
  • Specialty Mediums
  • Acrylic Pouring Medium
• Mixing Liquitex Mediums with Paint: Best Practices & Ratios
• Liquitex Gessos: The Foundation of a Great Painting
• Liquitex Varnishes: How to Protect Your Work
• Choosing the Right Medium or Varnish for Your Project

Liquitex Mediums: What They Do and How to Use Them

Acrylic Gel Mediums (For Texture, Body & Adhesion)

Gel mediums allow artists to manipulate the consistency of acrylic paint without sacrificing pigment strength. Whether you want to thicken paint for texture, maintain transparency for layering, or improve adhesion for collage, there’s a gel medium to fit your needs.

Gloss & Matte Gel Mediums

✔ Thickens paint while maintaining brushstrokes and peaks.
✔ Provides a glossy or matte finish.
✔ Archival adhesive – Ideal for mixed media, collage, and mounting paper or canvas onto wood panels.

Heavy Gel Medium

✔ Creates bold, impasto textures with a palette knife or brush.
✔ Holds peaks and dries clear.
✔ Practice Exercise: Apply heavy gel in thick strokes and let it dry, then paint over to observe how texture affects brushwork.

Super Heavy Gel Medium (Matte & Gloss)

✔ Thickest of all Liquitex gels, ideal for extreme 3D sculptural effects.
✔ Can be applied directly to canvas or wood as a raised composition before painting.
⚠ Safety Warning: Do not use good brushes! Super Heavy Gel is difficult to clean out and will stiffen bristles permanently. Use palette knives or designated brushes only.

Liquithick Thickening Gel

✔ Adds incredible structure and thickness to your paint, allowing you to achieve a wide spectrum of viscosities. 
✔ The more you add, the more weight and thickness your paint will achieve. Recommended ratio is 1-part Liquithick to 4 parts acrylic paint.
✔ Liquitex Additives Liquithick Thickening Gel is ideal for creating textural effects and dries to a matte surface finish.

💡 Pro Tip: Use Liquitex Painting Knives for smooth, precise application of heavy gels and texture mediums.

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Acrylic Fluid Mediums (For Flow & Paint Modification)

Acrylic fluid mediums change the consistency of paint without affecting its durability. They allow for seamless blending, smoother brushwork, and increased transparency, making them essential for glazing, washes, and extending paint without dilution.

Fluid Medium in Matte or Gloss

Liquitex Fluid Acrylic Mediums can be used as an extender and fixative for Liquitex Acrylic Paints, giving increased flow without affecting paint stability. Matte Mediums can be used to maintain opacity and extend opaque colors to double amounts without changing the color. Matte Mediums are ideal for large projects where transparency is not desired.

✔ Great for thinning paint without using water.
✔ Archival adhesive – Works well for collage and mixed media.

Slow-Dri Fluid Retarder

✔ Extends drying time by 40% without affecting color opacity for smooth blending and layering.
✔ Helps acrylics behave more like oil paint.
⚠ Safety Tip: Wear gloves when handling retarders to avoid prolonged skin contact.

Flow-Aid Additive

✔ Increases the flow, absorbency, and blending of any water-based paint, ink, or dye. Minimizes brushstrokes.
✔ Use it with Liquitex Soft Body color to create very fluid washes without hard edges, to create staining effects on raw canvas, and to produce a fluid spray when mixed with acrylics in airbrushes or spray guns

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Acrylic Texture Gels (For Special Effects & Surface Texture)

Want to add gritty, glassy, or sand-like effects to your acrylic paintings? Liquitex Texture Gels are designed to create unique surfaces and tactile finishes that go beyond traditional paint application. These gels can be used alone, mixed with paint, or layered for custom textures that range from smooth and reflective to rough and dramatic.

In this section, we’ll explore different Liquitex texture gels, how to apply them, and best practices to avoid cracking or adhesion issues. Plus, you'll find a hands-on exercise to test their effects in your own work!

Natural Sand Gel

Glass Bead Gel 

✔ Contains clear, round aggregates that dry to a semi-gloss, reflective surface that appears ''bubbly.'' 
✔ It yields its most dramatic effects when mixed with transparent or translucent colors. It can also be applied over dry paint. 
✔ For reflective textural glazes, mix with Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish and small amounts of Liquitex Medium Viscosity Concentrated Artist Color. 
✔ This gel is suitable as a ground for acrylic and oil paints, and works well with brush application.

String Gel

✔ Creates viscous, honey-like strings of color and a consistency that dries to a textured form with a wet-shine gloss. 
✔ Add to paints to extend color and increase surface gloss, color depth, and transparency—once mixed, they can be poured, dripped, or brushed out to achieve different effects. 
✔ Liquitex Effects String Gel Medium is best when mixed with soft body acrylic or acrylic ink paints. It can be intermixed with other Liquitex products to achieve unique effects.

Practice Exercise: Apply different Liquitex texture gels to a test canvas and experiment with dry brushing paint over them once dry.

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Specialty Mediums

Not all painting techniques fit into traditional categories. Liquitex specialty mediums are designed for artists who want to experiment beyond the canvas—whether that’s airbrushing, painting on fabric, or adding metallic effects. These unique formulas help expand creative possibilities while ensuring paint remains flexible, durable, and vibrant on different surfaces.

Airbrush Medium 

Iridescent Medium

Glass Medium 

Liquitex Glass Medium transforms regular acrylic color into permanent, scratch-resistant glass paint. Ideal for ceramic, porcelain and glass, the formula helps you achieve a smooth, even flow without stroke marks or drips.

Fabric Medium 

Practice Exercise: Painting on Fabric

When painting on fabric you need materials with exceptional quality, versatility, durability and adhesion. You can apply color to textiles using a wide variety of application techniques for a range of different end results. Choose your materials and technique to suit your fabric. Liquitex Professional Soft Body Acrylic is our most versatile paint for textile use and our Fabric Medium ensures a lasting flexible bond between paint and fiber.

💡 Pro Tip: None of these materials require heat setting, steaming or chemical fixing.

General Tips

• Applying thick paint to large areas will tend to stiffen fabric
• Loose fabric weave allows more of the color to penetrate the fibers
• Colors will dry lighter than they appear when first painted
• Transparent and semi-opaque paint colors work best and dry with a softer finish
• Titanium White and all iridescent/metallic colors may stiffen fabric
• All colors are permanent - no heat setting required

Suitable Textiles

Cotton, cotton-poly blends, woven, knitted, felt, terry cloth, silk, velvet, velveteen, corduroy, flannel, suede, leather and most synthetics.

Before You Start

• Pre-wash new fabric to remove sizing (it interferes with adhesion) and leave to dry
• Place a protective layer on your work surface to prevent the fabric sticking and stretch sweatshirts with cardboard for best paint application
• Test your technique on a separate piece - each fabric has a different absorbency and will affect paint handling
• Adjust paint to desired consistency using one of our professional mediums. For soft and flexible results always use Liquitex Fabric Medium, adding distilled water if necessary - do not over-thin.

Materials

• Paint or Ink: Soft Body, Heavy Body Acrylic, or Acrylic Ink
• Fabric Medium

Directions

1. Mix your choice of color with Fabric Medium for a more flexible feel to finished painting
2. To extend workable time, mix color with Slow-Dri
3. Paint your design and allow to dry
4. Drying time varies depending on surface, application and humidity. Paint will dry to touch in 5 minutes to 2 hours, No heat-setting required. 

Aftercare

• After paint fully dries, wait at least 4 days before washing
• Hand wash and hang dry is best. Do not pre-soak or use hot water. Wash items inside out
• If you want to machine wash, use the permanent press/gentle cycle on a low temperature
• Dry cleaning machines that spin-dry fabric at room temperature are recommended. Dry cleaning suede is acceptable.
• ⛔ Spot cleaning solutions should be avoided or used sparingly
• If you need to iron in the future, use the low synthetic heat setting and use a pressing cloth or iron on reverse side of fabric

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Acrylic Pouring Medium (For Fluid Art & Smooth Flowing Effects)

Acrylic pouring is a unique technique that requires paint to flow smoothly without cracking or blending into muddy colors. Liquitex Pouring Medium is formulated to create a smooth, seamless, and strong body of paint when poured or dripped onto a surface, and it's designed to increase flow, eliminate crazing, and to give a high gloss flexible finish.

✔ Ensures smooth, crack-free pours while maintaining color vibrancy.

✔ Prevents colors from mixing into mud – Liquitex Pouring Medium encapsulates each pigment, keeping them separate when pre-mixed.

Key Features

• For smooth, wet look pours with a high gloss finish.
• Can be mixed with any acrylic paint to get smooth, even colour films without increasing the transparency of the colour. Extends your color further without affecting acrylic stability
• Resistant to aging - the medium does not yellow, dries waterproof, remains flexible after drying and maintains a strong finish.
• Maintains paint adhesion, durability and archival quality
• Watering applications - it prevents hair cracks and bubbles in drip and pouring applications, even with puddles and acrylic skins.

💡 Why Colors Stay Separate:

• Pouring Medium reduces surface tension, allowing colors to flow over each other rather than blending.
• Pigment density affects layering—heavier pigments sink, while lighter ones float, creating natural separation.
  

✔ Practice Exercise: Try layering Titanium White, Phthalo Blue, and Quinacridone Magenta in separate pours and observe how they settle.

How to Use

• • Formulated to create a smooth, seamless, and strong body of paint when poured or dripped onto a surface.
  • Designed to increase flow, eliminate crazing, and to give a high gloss flexible finish.
  • For best pours, start with with a tablespoon of Soft Body color to a cup of Pouring Medium (around 5% color to 95% medium) and adapt to suit your technique. To use with Acrylic Ink or Heavy Body Acrylic, adjust ratio to get your desired consistency.
  • Stir gently to avoid creating foam - if bubbles appear, leave it to sit while the bubbles rise and disappear
  • Crazing and cracking can occur when the flow heights are very uneven so ensure your poured surface is level when drying.
  • For best pours, start with with a tablespoon of Soft Body color to a cup of Pouring Medium (around 5% color to 95% medium) and adapt to suit your technique. To use with Acrylic Ink or Heavy Body Acrylic, adjust ratio to get your desired consistency.
  • Stir gently to avoid creating foam - if bubbles appear, leave it to sit while the bubbles rise and disappear
  • Crazing and cracking can occur when the flow heights are very uneven so ensure your poured surface is level when drying.

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Mixing Liquitex Mediums with Paint: Best Practices & Ratios

Each Liquitex medium has an ideal mixing ratio that helps maintain the integrity, durability, and performance of your paint. Using the right proportion ensures smooth application, prevents cracking, and enhances your creative techniques.

This section provides a quick-reference guide to recommended medium-to-paint ratios, along with key considerations to help you get the most out of your materials.

✔ Gloss & Matte Mediums – Can be mixed up to 1:1 ratio with paint for increased transparency and extended drying time.

✔ Heavy & Super Heavy Gels – Should stay below 50% of the mix to maintain paint strength and prevent shrinkage or cracking.

✔ Pouring Medium – Requires no more than 30% paint to ensure proper flow and maintain color separation.

⚠ Safety Precaution: Avoid thinning paint too much with water—more than 30% can weaken paint adhesion and lead to flaking over time.

Liquitex Gessos: The Foundation of a Great Painting

Gesso is the first step in surface preparation, ensuring better paint adhesion and smoother brushwork. Without it, acrylic paint can soak into the surface unevenly.

✔ White Gesso – Traditional primer for canvas, wood, and paper.
✔ Black Gesso – Creates dramatic, deep-toned backgrounds.
✔ Clear Gesso – Keeps the natural texture of the surface while adding grip.
✔ Mix gesso with paint to create a custom-tinted background!

Key Features

• Primes surfaces and adds a high level of tooth for maximum color adhesion and stability
• Gives a matte white, opaque finish which provides a professional standard, archival base to help maintain the longevity of your work
• Stiffens your canvases and creates the optimum absorbency for paint application
• Establishes a good surface for preliminary charcoal or pencil drawings
• Always use a quality artist's gesso if you want a lasting, archival base - a low-cost ground will flake and separate from your support, taking your work with it. Under the right conditions, a professional gesso will last generations

• Primes surfaces and adds a high level of tooth for maximum color adhesion and stability
  Gives a matte white, opaque finish which provides a professional standard, archival base to help maintain the longevity of your work
• Stiffens your canvases and creates the optimum absorbency for paint application
• Establishes a good surface for preliminary charcoal or pencil drawings
• Always use a quality artist's gesso if you want a lasting, archival base - a low-cost ground will flake and separate from your support, taking your work with it. Under the right conditions, a professional gesso will last generations

💡 Tip: Elevate your canvas with painter’s pyramids or small wood blocks when applying thick gesso to prevent sticking.

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Liquitex Varnishes: How to Protect Your Work

Acrylic paint dries fast, but that doesn’t mean your artwork is fully protected. Without a final varnish, paintings remain vulnerable to dust, UV rays, and surface damage over time.

Liquitex varnishes provide a clear, durable shield that enhances color depth, adjusts sheen, and preserves your work for years to come. Whether you want a high-gloss shine, a soft satin glow, or a non-reflective matte finish, this section will guide you through choosing the right varnish, applying it correctly, and avoiding common mistakes.

Liquitex Acrylic Varnishes, made from 100% acrylic polymer emulsions, protect finished acrylic artworks from harsh elements and UV rays.

• They form a permanent, non-removable film that is flexible yet hard.
• Seal your acrylic work with a transparent, high gloss acrylic layer which is breathable, permanent and protects against UV damage.
• Available in a variety of finishes, they dry clear and resist yellowing and fogging.
• Available in bottles of brush-on varnish and cans of spray-on varnish.

💡 Tip: For interior and exterior use.

There are many misconceptions about whether or not it’s necessary to varnish acrylic paintings. 

As a general rule, all acrylic paintings should be varnished. Even though acrylics dry fast to a durable and flexible film, there are a number of important benefits to varnishing a piece of work

Benefits

• Adjusts and unifies the surface sheen
• Minimizes the attraction and migration of atmospheric pollutants into the paint film
• Protects against surface abrasion during shipping or exhibition
• Boosts the brightness and color saturation
• Protects colors from ultraviolet light. Any varnish will afford some protection but those with UV inhibitors offer extended protection from color fading
• Allows for easy cleaning without fear of removing or damaging the paint film
  

Which Varnish?

Choose between permanent or removable varnishes, liquid or spray formats, and your desired level of sheen. You can intermix Liquitex varnishes to create a custom sheen and apply them all to both flexible and rigid supports. Spray-on or airbrush varnishing is recommended for heavily textured work or vertical applications such as murals. All Liquitex varnishes can be used on interior and exterior work.

Permanent or Removable?

Permanent

• Liquitex 100% acrylic polymer archival permanent varnishes are non-removable and are for exclusive use on acrylics
• Each has excellent leveling properties, is durable, resists chemicals, water and discoloration (yellowing, non-fogging), flexible, permanent and translucent when wet, transparent when dry
• The water-based acrylic formulas dry to a non-tacky, hard surface that is resistant to dirt retention, copes with humidity, heat and ultraviolet light and depending upon substrate, allow moisture to pass through
• For interior and exterior use
• You have four sheen options - High Gloss, Gloss, Satin and Matte

Removable

• Our solvent-based archival removable varnishes protect your acrylic or oil painting surface and can be removed periodically to lift away trapped surface dirt without damaging the paint underneath. Follow our guide 'Soluvar Varnish Removal' for this
• Once the surface is clean, a new coat of Soluvar may be reapplied
• Each has excellent leveling properties, is durable, non-yellowing, flexible and translucent when wet, transparent when dry. They will not crack as your surface expands and contracts during temperature and humidity changes
• For interior and exterior use
• You have two sheen options – Gloss and Matte
  

Liquid or Spray

Liquid

Designed to be used straight from the bottle, this is the most traditional form of varnish. Apply with a paint brush, airbrush or sponge and build up in layers.

Spray

Powered by aerosol, this is a newer way to apply varnish. It lets you create even mists and build up fine layers without the chance of stray brush hairs. It takes a little time to perfect the art of a good spray and we always advise wearing a mask.

Directions

Permanent Varnish

1. Before varnishing, ensure paint surface is fully dry (72 hours-two weeks depending on thickness) and your space is well ventilated and dust-free.
2. Choose your desired format and sheen. Always do a test before applying to your work
3. Place the work to be varnished flat on a table - do not varnish vertically
4. Stir varnish gently before use (to avoid bubbles) or shake spray can well. Do not thin with water
5. Use a clean wide, flat soft-hair brush/pad/airbrush/spray to apply. Apply in long even strokes/mists to cover the surface top to bottom while moving from one side to the other
6. When using Liquitex Matte or Satin Varnish, apply no more than 1-2 thin coats as thick applications may result in cloudiness when dry. If more than 2 coats are desired, first varnish with Gloss Varnish to the desired thickness and apply Matte or Satin Varnish as the final coat
7. Allow at least 12 hours dry time between coats
8. Thin coats are better than one thick coat which will take longer to dry, may dry cloudy, drip or sag during application and has a greater chance of showing brush strokes when dry
9. Avoid vigorous over-brushing as it may result in a cloudy finish. While working, inspect the varnish layer at all angles for bubbles. Even them out immediately
10. Once you leave an area, don’t go back over it. If you do, you risk dragging partially dry resin into wet, which will dry cloudy over dark colors. If any areas were missed, allow to dry completely and re-varnish

Removable Varnish

If working with acrylics, allow paint to completely dry (72 hours-2 weeks depending on thickness) before moving to the varnish stage. If working with oils, leave to dry for 6-12 months, depending upon oil film thickness

1. Choose your desired format and sheen. Always do a test before applying to your work
   Place the work to be varnished flat on a table - do not varnish vertically
2. First apply 1-2 layers of Gloss Medium as a permanent isolation barrier
3. Avoid vigorous over-brushing as it may result in a cloudy finish
4. Leave 1-3 hours between coats and three days after last coat
5. Stir Soluvar gently before use (to avoid bubbles), or shake can vigorously. Liquid Soluvar can be thinned with up to 25% mineral spirits - use ‘true’ mineral spirits, not odorless. Be aware that thinned varnish is more susceptible to producing bubbles so be gentle with your application
6. Apply 1-2 layers of Soluvar with a wide, flat soft-hair brush/pad/spray, leaving 24 hours between coats
7. Apply in long even strokes/mists to cover the surface top to bottom while moving from one side to the other. While working, inspect the varnish layer at all angles for bubbles.
8. Even them out immediately
9. Once you leave an area, don’t go back over it. If you do, you risk dragging partially dry resin into wet, which will dry cloudy over dark colors. If any areas were missed, allow to dry completely and re-varnish
10. When you want to remove your Soluvar layer, use a lint-free rag dampened with mineral spirits to gently clean the surface of dirt and varnish. Leave to dry thoroughly and reapply 

Varnish information courtesy of Liquitex.com.

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Choosing the Right Medium or Varnish for Your Project

With so many Liquitex mediums and varnishes available, how do you know which one is right for your artwork? The best choice depends on your technique, desired finish, and painting surface.

To make things simple, this section includes a quick-reference chart that breaks down the key features of each medium and varnish—so you can find exactly what you need at a glance. Whether you're looking to add texture, increase flow, slow drying time, or protect your final piece, this guide will help you make an informed decision.

Conclusion

Liquitex mediums and varnishes expand your creative possibilities—whether you want thick impasto, smooth blends, or durable finishes. Try them out while they’re on sale this week at Alabama Art Supply!

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