Atelier Interactive was first introduced in Australia in 2005. The artists who had been using the “old” Atelier Artists’ acrylic have found that Atelier Interactive is easy to use, and they have not had to sacrifice any of their old fast drying techniques, while at the same time they can now explore extended wet blending which used to be limited to very short time frames when using the old style paint.

• Atelier Interactive was introduced as an improvement to “old” style Atelier rather than as a new and separate paint which, in the case of Golden Open, is supplementary to the uses of Golden Heavy Body.
• Atelier Interactive is a general purpose paint for either fast or slow techniques, as chosen by the artist. It sounds simple and it is simple, but a web of misconceptions has grown up around it.
• Misconceptions arise out of hearsay and misconstruing words. The Atelier Interactive Basic Users Guide - Info Sheet 101 and Atelier Interactive Fast and Slow Painting Techniques Info sheet 102 offer excellent guidelines on using the paint. However since painting is a very physical process it is difficult to describe and hard to understand when only words are being used so the absolute best way to understand the paint is to actually paint with it!

How to carry out a simple inexpensive paint trial
You only need about 5 tubes and an ordinary household water atomizer to check out how Atelier Interactive works, and the colours you choose can be added to your existing paint box. You can mix your Atelier Interactive paints with whatever acrylic paints you are using now for any normal fast technique. When you are investigating slow blending you must mix the Atelier Interactive paints with each other excluding the old paints. You can use mixtures early in the process and use Atelier Interactive in the top layers for most subtlety and finesse. If you like your new Atelier Interactive paints you need not discard your old paints because they can be used for under painting.
Misconceptions need to be set aside and things will become clear as soon as you get hold of some paint.
Misconception No 1
“Atelier Interactive is a slow drying paint like Golden Open”.
Much forum and blog space has been used to compare the two paints which really have nothing in common. Golden Open is a special slow drying paint, and it does not replace Golden Heavy Body which is Golden’s normal fast drying paint. Golden Open was designed for artists such as outdoor landscape painters because old style acrylics dry too quickly outdoors to be useful.
If you like working outdoors, Atelier Interactive does the job and you should read the Plein Air Painting with Atelier Interactive - Info Sheet 103. Atelier Interactive can be delayed easily, but when you want to stop and go on , or when you have finished and want to pack up, it can be dried off quickly in full sunlight.
So to correct the misconception Atelier Interactive is a fast drying paint that can be delayed on demand.
Artists who want their paint to stay wet all day tend to use oil paints and most acrylic artists chose acrylics because they dry fast. These artists continue to use their fast methods and bring in the delay factors only when they want more time for blending.
Misconception No 2 is just exaggeration
“AI is a slow drying paint and can be kept wet all day.”
This is true but most acrylic artists work in quick bursts and while they appreciate longer blending times, they may only need an extra 15 minutes or so in certain stages of their painting.
If you keep working wet in wet for too long you are likely to produce muddy results as often happens with oil painting, because you can’t control oil paint to dry when you want it to.
WITH Atelier Interactive you can dry off and continue with overpainting when you think it’s appropriate.
It is easy to get carried away and keep painting longer than is desirable, so you should plan your blending sessions to suit your painting styles. Be sure to read the section on Surface Blending in Atelier Interactive Fast and Slow Painting Techniques Info sheet 102 because it is a very useful way to control blending that you need to explore.
Mediums can sometimes be very useful but it is probably sensible to start out with paint and water only. The most important thing is to get started. Read the Atelier Guide to Grounds and Mediums for more information.