Starting with Acrylics
Amazing Acrylics
Acrylic paint is a synthetic, man-made product of modern science. The colored pigments are essentially the same as in those found in oils, however, the vehicle is a transparent acrylic polymer. Acrylics have become enormously popular since their development in the late 1950’s, possibly because they are the most responsive of any artist’s paint and acrylics are generally less expensive than oils.
Acrylics are an extraordinarily versatile media. They can be used on almost any surface and will dry to be waterproof in only minutes. Use them to create lushly textured impastos or subtle watercolor-like effects. They clean up easily with water and require no toxic or noxious solvents. Colors will not yellow with age.
Available in tubes, jars and bottles, acrylic paints come in two grades, professional and student. Professional paint is more highly pigmented than student, which uses less expensive pigments and extenders so it will fit the student budget.
Super Supports & Great Grounds
The surface an artist paints on is called a support. Any absorbent, non-oily material will work – cloth, canvas, paper, cardboard, unfinished wood or gessoed hardboard. When choosing your support, it is important to remember that acrylics will not adhere to a surface that contains oil or wax.
Acrylic paints can be used on either primed or unprimed supports, depending on the effects you seek. The substance used to prepare a surface for painting is called a ground. Although acrylics can be applied directly to a surface without first applying a ground, the binder from the paint itself is then absorbed into the surface and the result is a drab painting with a disagreeable drying time.
The most common ground used is gesso. It is easily available, simple to apply and generally inexpensive. Brushed onto the support prior to painting, it dries quickly to provide a matte, even surface to which acrylics readily adhere. The final texture of your painting depends on how the gesso is applied, how many coats are used and whether or not the gesso is sanded between coats.
Brushes with Acrylic
Brushes are an extremely important factor in achieving superior results from acrylics. Most brushes used for oil painting are also suitable for acrylics. If the paint is to be diluted and used like watercolor, a sable or synthetic soft hair brush is recommended to ensure smooth, soft strokes. Synthetic sable brushes are a better all-around choice because they’re more economical, softer and have a lighter touch than natural hair brushes. Synthetics are also easier to clean and will withstand the tough demands of acrylics.
Perfect Palettes
Because acrylics dry very quickly it is advisable to use a Sta-Wet palette. These palettes usually incorporate a special multi-layer paper that wicks moisture beneath the palette to
keep colors workable for longer periods. They are available commercially or you may construct a simple one for yourself using a shallow plastic tray lined with damp paper and a sheet of plastic wrap.
A Medium for Every Method
One of the things that adds to acrylic paint’s versatility is the wide range of modifiers or mediums available to alter its natural characteristics. Modeling paste or gel medium, for example, thicken it for heavy impastos; matte or gloss medium make it transparent for luminous glazes; retarders slow its drying time. What’s more, in addition to standard tube-type colors, acrylics are also available in fluid form for airbrush and watercolor-style applications. At the opposite extreme, some manufacturers now offer heavier-bodied acrylics that allow more textured painting without the addition of modeling paste or gel medium. The choice is yours!
Of course, the most common and useful medium for acrylic is ordinary water. It isn’t glamorous or exotic, but for artists just getting familiar with acrylics, it’s usually the best place to begin because it keeps the painting process simple and direct.
Because they dry so quickly, hard edges between applications of acrylic paint are a common concern. Even when retardants are added, blending adjacent colors and avoiding hard edges remains challenging because acrylics don’t blend well using conventional techniques. Still, many artists achieve graduated oil-like blends using one of the following techniques:
Method #1: To blend a blue, for example, into an adjacent green, first mix a little of each color to produce an intermediate color/value between the two original colors. The transition of color can be further refined by mixing additional intermediate colors/values to bridge the intervals at either side of the newly created central color/value. Once a range of colors is mixed, simply scumble or dry brush them over one another to produce a graduated but subtly textured transition from one color to another.
Method #2: As in the first method, begin by pre-mixing a range of colors/values, this time, however, thin the colors to a semi-transparent consistency with water and apply them as bands of color. Then, blend edges (where the bands meet) with a sponge (for large areas) or with the ends of the brush bristles (for smaller areas). After each coat dries, repeat the process-up to five times. The result should be a seamless oil-like transition of color and value.