Naphthol Red Medium 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 Naphthol Red Medium 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.

Naphthol Red Medium 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.

Water works for light thinning, up to roughly 25% by volume. Past that you start diluting the acrylic binder itself, and the paint loses adhesion, becomes chalky and can lift when you paint over it. For anything thinner than a light wash, use an acrylic medium or a flow improver instead, which thins the consistency without weakening the film. For glazing, use a glazing medium rather than water, every time.

Yes, for feature walls, murals and children's rooms. Artist acrylic is far more pigmented than house paint, so it covers in fewer coats and goes further per litre than you would expect, which is why people usually use it for the artwork itself and standard wall paint for the surrounding field. Make sure the wall is clean and free of grease, and keep in mind that artist acrylic in a satin finish will not scrub like a washable interior paint unless you seal it.

Do not tip liquid acrylic or heavily pigmented rinse water down the sink or a storm drain. Let leftover paint dry out fully in the container, then put the solid in general waste. For rinse water, let the solids settle in a bucket, decant the clear water, and dry out the sludge before binning it. For larger quantities, or if you are unsure, check with your local council, which will have a household chemical drop-off.

Yes, it is a common mural choice, and the alkali resistance is the reason. It adheres to stone, plaster, concrete and render without a specialist masonry primer, provided the wall is clean, sound and slightly porous. For an exterior mural, finish with a UV resistant exterior varnish. The paint's lightfastness rating assumes indoor museum conditions, and an Australian north-facing wall is a very different ask.