PAINTING IN ACRYLIC
Acrylic
is an artificial and comparatively modern type of paint (if you
consider the mid-20th century modern) yet its useful qualities have
made it a very popular paint type. While oil paints are still
regarded as the 'premium' painting format, with higher prices, acrylics
can match many of the best qualities of both oils and watercolors.
Like
watercolors, acrylics can be 'glazed' in multiple partially opaque
layers if needed. But like oils, these layers do dry out after a
while and once dry, won't be reactivated by water. Acrylic washes
or glazes can be acheived effectively with gel mediums (matte or
glossy) that when mixed into the paint, will make it more translucent
and less opaque.
One technique well suited to acrylics is the
underpainting. You can create a subtle mix (a light gray or
brown, a blue-gray, greenish-gray, ochre... all of these can work
well.) and take that and layer it over the entire canvas before doing
any other work. It serves two purposes - first, to ensure that
every part of the canvas is coated in paint, removing those little
white specks - and secondly, it achieves the aim of tinting the entire
work a bit towards a particular warm or cool tone.
You can also
consider using sandpaper on a canvas to smooth it out a bit. This
does help smooth out the surface if that is what you want.
This is
particularly useful when painting miniatures or miniature art.
Also useful for detail work - small brush tips. 20/0 or
similar seems to be an ideal size for intricate detailing.
Other
offbeat techniques can be used. There are many ways to apply
brushstrokes, surely, but the use of palette knives and other tools
extend the options available. Foam brushes can evenly apply paint
and fill in a lot of cracks. Different brush sizes and shapes are
useful in different cases - fan brushes are great for distant leafy
vegetation, for example. It's possible also to mix powders (i.e.
sand or whatever) into the paint to give a particularly rough texture.
A thick volume of paint applied heavily with the brush can also
be attempted, to create an impasto style.
Many of the scattered methods available are rarely useful, but most are worth experimenting with in certain cases.
Don't be afraid to try new things - experimentation with brushes and other materials can sometimes yield interesting insights.
|
