HEAVY BODY ACRYLIC COLOURS • 145 Colors; Largest range available • No Matting Agents that hinder colour brilliance • High Pigment Levels for intense colour application • Lightfast; Permanent; Flexible • Water-Based; Conforms to ASTM D 4236

Click here for Heavy Body Colour Chart

The original line of Golden Artist Acrylics is known for its
exceptionally smooth, thick buttery consistency. It contains the largest assortment of unique pure pigments in a 100% acrylic emulsion vehicle available to the professional artist. These colors offer excellent permanency and lightfastness. There are no fillers, extenders, opacifiers, toners, or dyes added.

Each Heavy Body color is formulated differently depending on the nature of the pigment. Colors that tolerate higher pigment "loads" dry to a more opaque, matte finish. Colors that are more reactive and do not accept high pigment loading dry to a glossy finish and tend to be more transparent. Heavy Body colors contain no additives, such as matting agents, therefore the gloss of each color will be different.

Golden decided not to add the flattening agents typically added to acrylic paints to unify the product's finish. Each pigment is made to its own level of matte or gloss depending upon its own unique nature. Golden also decided not to add opacifiers to the colors (use of opacifiers is critical for coverage of house paints, yet it is also the reason that house colors tend to be quite subdued compared to professional artist colors). These decisions allowed the colors to retain their clearest and cleanest quality, especially when used in washes or glazes. It is always possible to add matting agents and other whitening materials to the product, but once added, it is impossible to take them away. The HB line of acrylics contains no additional flattening agents, opacifiers or other solids that might interfere with the clarity of our pigments.

All Heavy Body acrylic tubes and tubs have hand-painted packaging. Actual hand-painted swatches on product packaging show artists the true visual qualities of the Golden paint including color brilliance, level of transparency or opacity and degree of surface reflectance: gloss, satin or matte
It is quite evident when looking at the handpainted color chart that colors in the HB line do differ in gloss. For example, the sheen of Golden Ultramarine Blue or Burnt Umber is almost a dead matte, whereas the sheen of Green Gold or Dioxazine Purple is extremely glossy. Some artists may find this problematic; yet for many artists the variations offer the same nuances of color that are so appreciated in oil paints and give what many describe as an organic look to the colors. Without the need for opacifiers Golden can offer colors as similar in hue as the Cadmiums and Hansas, yet quite different in their ability to cover and in their clarity when mixing.

Heavy Body Acrylic Neutral Grays
N2 through N8. A series of achromatic grays that follow the Munsell Value Scale. They allow artists to adjust value and chroma without altering hue. Bone Black is recommended for neutral black (N1) and Titanium for neutral white (N10).

Heavy Body Acrylic Historical Colours
Golden Historical Colors are authentic recreations of paint colors that have been in use for hundreds of years and were considered essential to the working palettes of past masters. As the pigments originally used to produce these colors were found to be unsafe or vulnerable to the effects of light and weather, they had not been offered in a Golden line of pure pigment colors. Recognizing the popularity of these colors within some palettes, Golden has recreated these in a safe, reliable form, meeting the conservation requirements of fine artists. Great pains were taken to ensure the Golden Historical Colors shared the working properties of their predecessors.

Heavy Body Acrylic Iridescent & Interference Colors
Golden Iridescent Acrylics are one of the most unique products available to artists today. They offer highly reflective metallic variations when mixed with Golden colors. The Golden Iridescent colours achieve their reflective properties by synthetically reproducing natural phenomena of metals and minerals. Golden Interference Acrylic colors offer a unique "interference flip." When viewed from difference perspectives, Interference colors flip between a bright opalescent color and its complement. When applied over white or lighter surfaces, the Interference color is less obvious and the "flip" effect is more obvious. When applied over black or darker surfaces, the Interference color is more obvious and the "flip" effect is less obvious. Most Golden Interference colors are available in two varieties: Coarse and Fine. They offer artists a range of reflective properties and interplay with light. Interference colors are relatively transparent, allowing artists the ability to glaze with unique effects.