Subject:fade rates for "real" watercolor / acrylicpaintings/archival issues

[Artmuvz@aol.com]

Hi Robert
You asked about the fade rate of acrylics in painting. It depends on several 
factors:
what is painted on: canvas (primed or unprimed, what kind of gesso...),paper, 
archival or non-archival, even the water that is used to rinse/clean the 
brushes. The main factor is the quality of acrylics. Student grade or hobby 
grade acrylics are not as good as professional grade...but in general 
acrylics don't change color.  I have paintings ,on canvas and on archival 
paper which are 25-30 years old, which are the same colors as when I painted 
them.  Acrylics really came into their own around 1964, I started using them 
just after that, in l965. Have used them ever since...until the computer came 
along, and companies and clients demanded digital graphics...So you have 
asked what should have been an easily answered question, that has many 
components to the answer, as usual. (My Degree is in Art, which included fine 
art printmaking, so I find this discussion of archival issues very amusing. 
The issue was covered back in the 70s in Lithography classes:when we 
purchased paper, it had to be archival. And storage methods were covered, 
mounting, framing, glazing,etc.  And here it is, finally, in the year 2000, 
being discussed and "worried on" in the computer age...
Sorry to add to the weight of the list, but just maybe this might help in the 
discussion of archival issues.
Artmuvz@aol.com
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