Gold Ochre is semi-opaque. That determines how you should use it. An opaque colour covers what is beneath it in one or two coats and is what you want for blocking in and correcting. A semi-transparent or transparent colour lets the layer underneath influence the result, which makes it ideal for glazing and shadow work but frustrating if you are trying to cover something. Check the swatch on the jar against a black bar to see it for yourself.

All Amsterdam acrylics are intermixable, and Gold Ochre behaves predictably in mixes given it is semi-opaque. Start by mixing it with titanium white for tints and with a small amount of its complementary colour to knock back the intensity rather than reaching for black, which tends to deaden a mix. Keep a swatch card of your mixes with the ratios written on it, because you will want to repeat one later.

Gold Ochre is rated +++ on Royal Talens' scale. Three pluses means the colour is rated to last at least 100 years under museum conditions, two pluses at least 25 years. Museum conditions means indoors and out of direct sunlight. That rating is why work painted in Amsterdam Standard Series is safe to sell, provided the buyer is not hanging it in a north-facing window.

Royal Talens, based in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. The company was founded in 1899 and also makes Rembrandt oils and pastels, Van Gogh oils and watercolours, Cobra water-mixable oils, Ecoline liquid watercolour and Bruynzeel pencils. Amsterdam acrylics are manufactured in the Netherlands, not contract-made offshore, which is part of why batch-to-batch consistency is reliable when you are mixing a colour you need to match again later.

Yes, Click and Collect is available from our Moorabbin store, for Melbourne metro customers. Order online and the Click and Collect option appears as a delivery method once you enter your address. Allow 1 to 3 business days for your order to be picked and packed, and we will email you when it is ready. Orders need to be collected within 4 business days of that notification. Someone else can collect on your behalf if they have the order number.

Usually one of three causes. You painted a thick layer over a layer that was not fully cured underneath, so the top skinned and the bottom shrank. You over-thinned with water, which weakened the binder. Or you applied it very thickly in a hot, dry, windy spot so the surface set long before the body did. The fixes are: thinner layers, proper drying time between them, thin with medium rather than water, and keep a heavy application out of direct heat.

Yes. Clean and lightly sand the piece, prime bare or previously varnished timber with an acrylic primer or gesso, then build two or three thin coats rather than one heavy one. The important step is the finish: seal it with a hard-wearing clear polyurethane or an acrylic varnish rated for furniture, because raw acrylic on a tabletop will mark and scuff. Allow proper curing time before you put anything on it.

It cures water resistant and permanent, which is enough for an indoor painting and enough to survive being wiped. It is not the same as a waterproof coating, so for anything living outdoors, getting scrubbed, or holding water, seal it with an exterior or hard-wearing clear varnish. Note also that it needs to be fully cured, not just touch dry, before it reaches that water resistance, which means days rather than minutes.

Yes, with a fabric medium mixed in. Straight acrylic on fabric dries into a stiff plastic patch that cracks when the cloth flexes. A textile or fabric medium keeps the binder flexible so the paint moves with the weave. Prewash the fabric to remove sizing, paint with a board inside so it does not bleed through, let it cure fully, then heat set with an iron on the reverse per the medium's instructions.