I have painted with acrylics in very hot, dry climates, the best example being the Guanacaste province on the northwest coast of Costa Rica, where I lived for six years, during the dry season. Humidity near zero percent and the temperature about 33C by 09h00 every morning. The trick is to have a pump spray bottle of water close by on your mixing table and keep the area of the painting that you're working on sprayed down so that it's always damp. Otherwise, you might as well forget about it. Your acrylic paint will turn into something resembling chewing gum within five to 10 minutes.
Tip from: Carson Collins (aka Hamlet279)
To slow the drying time of acrylics, spray water behind the canvas and or put a wet cloth behind your canvas. This will double the drying time of the acrylic paint. If you do this as well as spraying little water over the paint it really does extend the working time of acrylics a lot.
Tip from: Gerald Dextraze
Use a mister (like you use for watering ferns) to spray a fine mist over an acrylic painting as you're working on it. This will give you a little extra time for working with the paint before it dries.
But don't spray too heavily, or the acrylic paint may run.
Tip from: J.S.
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