Matisse Drying Retarder may be used in watercolouring, water wash effects, stain painting and hard edge techniques where it assists in pigment wetting, rapid colour diffusion and penetration.
Drying Retarder slows the evaporation of water from the paint. If excess amounts of Drying Retarder (over 10%) is added it will severely slow "cross linking" of the acrylic. Therefore, even though the paint may look dry (and indeed all the water will have gone from the paint), it will not have "cross linked" or "cured" so it is able to be re-wet, i.e. with a wet brush or cloth. This allows the Matisse Structure Formula acrylic paint to be used just like watercolours.
