Vermilion 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 Vermilion 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.

Vermilion 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.

Oil over acrylic is fine, and is a standard technique. Acrylic gesso and acrylic underpainting make a perfectly good ground for oils. Acrylic over oil is not fine. Acrylic is a water-based film and will not bond to an oily surface, so it will sit on top and eventually peel. The rule painters use is fat over lean: acrylic first, oil on top, never the other way around.

Virtually any slightly porous surface: stretched canvas, canvas board, acrylic and watercolour paper, cardboard, MDF, plywood, raw and primed timber, stone, terracotta, plaster, concrete and rendered walls. It is alkali resistant, which is why it holds on masonry and render where many acrylics fail. Non-porous surfaces such as bare metal, glass and glossy plastic need an appropriate primer or adhesion promoter first, or the paint will lift.

It can, though it takes mistreatment. Signs are a sour smell, visible mould on the surface, lumps that will not redisperse, or paint that has separated with a watery layer on top that will not stir back in. Contamination from dirty brushes and palette scrapings is the usual cause, along with a lid that never sealed properly. A skin on the surface is normal, just lift it off rather than stirring it in.

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.