Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

This has been a struggle. It feels like I am moving plastic around. May be I need more time to fall in love with open acrylics. In away regular acrylics are more honest, they do what they suppose to do.
The open acrylic does not bland the way it is advertised. It's flexibility and ability to bland does not resemble oil paint.
May be just stick with oil for oil and acrylics for acrylics and dont try make acrylics to be "oil". If my experinec changes I will write about it.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

I bought the traditional and modern color sets to try out open acrylics. The consistancy, color intensity and ease of use are what I expected from Golden - great. I am an experienced acrylic painter wanting to learn oil techniques without dealing with oil paint fumes so I'm trying water-based oils and the Golden open acrylics. I haven't quite got the knack of working with paints that don't dry quickly but thus far I'm finding the open acrylics much easier to use and less frustrating than the water-based oils, although I don't think I picked a quality brand of oil paint so I may be comparing apples to oranges. Still, all things being equal, the advantage of paint being dry to the touch in a day vs several days not to mention being able to varnish and/or frame paintings in a month vs six months seems to give Golden the advantage over water-based oils.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

Wow!!! These are really a step up for acrylic paints.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

If you are thinking of trying these, buy a couple tubes as I did, you wont be dissapointed. I predict these are going to be very popular! I've only been using this product for a week but I've tried many different kinds of oil & acrylic paint. All the reviews say the same thing, because it's true, these Golden Open Acrylics are absolutely awesome!

1. Gives you plenty of time before it dries. I left & came back 2 hours later to find my paints still wet & ready to work with.
2. As label says, can be used & combined with regular Golden Acrylics & vary drying time.
3. Very Informative Product Label front & back tells you EVERYTHING including matte to gloss levels along with others.
4. Fair Price, well worth it.
5. Color Selection is great. They didn't limit these to a small test of colors first. You got all the colors you need.

I'm definitely going to buy more. I'm sticking with Golden for my acrylics.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

These acrylics dried really slowly and were the best acrylics I have worked with so far. They are really workable when mixed with a little bit of water. The colors were mixable and my paintings looked great when they dried.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

Golden products never desappoint me. It's a brand I always trust for its quality.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

If you are working in acrylics, Golden is the company to go with. It just does not get any better than this employee-owned company. I was initially skeptical about how long these paints would stay open but after having tried them, I can say that they are everything that they've been advertised to be. As has been noted in a previous review, opacity is not a problem as long as you get colors that are naturally opaque. Some pigments are more naturally transparent and some are more naturally opaque. A simple look at Golden's pigment ID chart at their web site will show you which colors are more opaque.

One of the things I like best about this line is that intermixing with regular acrylic brands and mediums can give you a large range of drying times. I've found that using Open medium with regular acrylics can also significantly extend their drying time as well.

If you are someone like me who's come to acrylics from an oil painting background, you really owe it to yourself to try these great paints out.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

Golden makes the best acrylic products and their customer service is unbeatable.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

Golden Open paint has allowed me to leave my painting in the studio for hours, come back and mist the surface of the painting with water and continue to work wet into wet without encountering the problem of the dried paint skinning over or lifting off the canvas which happens with normal acrylics when they are not fully dry. It is a great value since you can put out a full pallet of paint, even in smaller quantities, without worry that it will dry before it will be used that day. It is a fantastic choice for field painting (Plein Air), and the introductory sets are perfect to keep your paint kit light weight. I bought both Modern and Traditional Color Sets to get all the colors I prefer. I also have a full line of 2 oz. tubes in both regular (fast-drying) version and Open for studio use. I chose Golden Open instead of Chroma Interactive since the Open line will intermix with traditionally formulated acrylics. These intermixtures will dry faster than those mixed with exclusively Open, however. I haven't tried any other brands of paints with formulations that don't readily skin over, so I can't really say that it is best in its category. I agree with most of the other reviews, except about the lack of opaqueness of the Golden Open line. Certain pigments are by their nature more translucent than other colors. For opaque coverage, I suggest you use Cadmium yellow, orange, and/or red; or Hansa opaque, rather than the other formulation of Hansa. Titanium white is an opaque white as opposed to Zinc white. Earth colors (Ochres, Siennas, Umbers, Iron Oxides, etc) are naturally extremely opaque. Use of any of the above in mixtures which contain naturally translucent colors will improve opacity. The sets contain very few opaque colors, other than White, so a painter must seek them out. The other reason for poor coverage is if the artist over-thins the paint with either water or Open Thinner. This line of paint is very susceptible to adhesion problems if it is thinned too much- even after it is thoroughly dried. This is a positive thing for those who prefer to wash out corrections rather than cover over them, but I believe the best way to use these paints is to use generous amounts of paint, thin only when absolutely necessary, and re-mix the color when you run low, rather than thinning it. If the artist desires to use staining or glazing techniques, adding the appropriate painting medium will prevent lifting of the layer. Thicker coats of paint can be speed-dried with a hair drier.
The lids are subject to splitting apart where the threads meet the top of the lid, but a call to the phone number printed at the crimp end of the tube will get you prompt free replacement of lids for the 2 oz. or larger tubes. Golden says they are working with their lid supplier to correct the problem. Replacement lids for the smaller tube starter sets are unavailable. I have covered the broken lids with duct tape and been able to use the remainder of the small tubes within the year with no noticeable change to the paint. This paint is as near-perfect as one could want.

Comments about Golden Open Acrylic Sets:

I ordered OPEN acrylics so I could blend colors of facial portraits I'm doing on a canvas banner. Heavy body acrylics dry too quickly. I tried the set of contemporary colors and have been able to make every color I need, especially a range of flesh tones. I can thin them with water if I need to but will probably order OPEN mediums and thinner in the future. The paints do dry slower than heavy body acrylics but still dry faster than I expected. They blend fairly easily. I would not recommend this set to a beginning painter because you need to understand how to mix colors to get the most out of the set. I consider myself intermediate to advanced in oil paints and fairly inexperienced in acrylics. The cost is a thrifty way to try these and the paint seems to go a long way.