What Is ACRA Acrylic Paint?

Artists can become very attached to their paint brand preferences. Several years ago the ACRA name disappeared from the Liquitex catalog and left many painters not only wondering why but concerned they wouldn't find a replacement. The translucent but strong colors of ACRA paint favored the building of layers and depth. Its lightfast quality made it ideal for work located outdoors or with exposure to sunlight.

What Is ACRA?

ACRA is a registered trademark owned by ColArt, the manufacturers of Liquitex. ACRA paints contain the chemical quinacridone as an ingredient. Quinacridone is an organic compound that has the outstanding characteristic of photochemical stability, meaning that its color is stable when exposed to outdoor light. ACRA, as in all quinacridone pigments, comes in a range of orange, red and violet colors.

ACRA and Quinacridone

Liquitex announced in 2005 that it was ending its use of the registered trademark ACRA. An initial reason for developing the trademark was due to the main ingredient name, quinacridone. Liquitex felt it was difficult to pronounce. Liquitex adopted the trademark ACRA and named all of its quinacridone paints according to the trademark. When other companies began identifying their paints as quinacridone, it made it seem that Liquitex did not have these types of paints. Liquitex then removed the trademark and relabeled the paints as quinacridone.

Using Liquitex Quinacridone

Liquitex claims to be the first manufacturer of quinacridone products. Like many of its other acrylic products, quinacridone paints have been developed in soft body, heavy body and super heavy body. Body refers to the thickness of the paint. All quinacridone colors are rated according to the American Society for Testing and Materials, standard for lightfastness.

Pigment Vs. Color

Liquitex, like many paint manufacturers, uses a color name to identify its products and a pigment name, or names, to identify what creates the color. For example, color 118, Quinacridone Blue-Violet, is Quinacridone Violet-B PV-19 (color index name pigment violet 19). Color 108, Quinacridone Burnt-Orange, is Quinacridone PR-206 (color index name pigment red 206). Quinacridone PR-206 is also an ingredient in color 116, Alizarin Crimson Hue Permanent.

Permanency

Quinacridone falls into ASTM Category I, which identifies the product as excellent lightfastness. This indicates that the paint will show little color change after 100 years if kept indoors under museum-quality lighting or the equivalent. When mixed with other pigments, this quality rating may be lowered.

References

• Definition of ACRA
• High Performance Pigments; Hugh M. Smith; 2002
• Free Liquitex Acrylic Book

Resources

• Coatings Technology Handbook; Arthur A. Tracton; 2005

[noriko]

on 10/5/2009 Wow, thank you for your explanation. I am a big fan of Acra series, and was planning to buy a lot of them when I visited L.A., (they cost much more in Japan, where I live now) and sadly found out that those series were gone. Next time I will look for Quinacridone series.