Paintings

Watercolour Painting

Acrylic Paint

Acrylic paint is a relatively new art material, having only become commercially available in the 1950's following Dr. Otto Rohm's development of acrylic resin, which formed the basis for the paint. Despite being only used at first as a house paint for interior decorating, acrylic paint was very soon adapted to become water-soluble and started becoming widely used by artists.

The beauty of this art material is that it is water-soluble and can therefore be mixed with water and reduced down to something similar almost to watercolour paints. Equally it can also be used in its standard form and applied very thickly to the canvas or medium for a very intense, rich effect. Acrylic paint will blend well whilst wet, allowing the artist to manipulate their work, correcting mistakes or simply layering the paint. When dry however, it becomes water-resistant and will not bleed or change easily. Thanks to developments in technology and manufacturing, acrylic paint also now benefits from very high levels of viscosity, giving it a great solid texture when used in artwork.

Acrylic paint also possesses the characteristic of being able to bond well to a wide variety of surfaces. This means that it's a more flexible art material, allowing the artist a greater range of applications and ways to express themselves. This paint is commonly on a variety of other mediums other than canvas and paper, which includes natural materials such as stone and wood. Due to its density, it can also be used literally as a solid material when dry. By layering the paint up to create relief features and textures, an artist's creation can quite literally extend beyond the surface of the canvas, reaching out to the viewer and becoming a three-dimensional sculpture.

In addition to being versatile enough to be applied to range of surfaces, acrylic paint can also be used very successfully with other art materials such as pencil, chalk, pastel, charcoal and may more. Following this, derivatives of acrylic paint have been developed for all types of application including face painting, fabric painting, screen printing, and airbrushing to name a few.

The use of this paint requires somewhat different techniques than those used with watercolour and oil paints due to its unique physical properties, and can include the following:

Flat painting – the process of layering paint without tonal distinctions, resulting in a very two dimensional aesthetic

Spattering and spraying – flicking and spraying paint onto the canvas or medium to help add atmosphere and mood to the work. It can also help with suggesting more complex textures.

Scraping and rubbing – using flat, blunt objects such as plastic cards, rulers or an artist's spatula, you can scrape paint across the canvas resulting in some truly beautiful and unique ‘distressed' and broken textures.

 

About the Author

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the best way to have your easel set for watercolour painting?

i have just got myself a easel and would like to the beat way to have it set for doing my watercolour painting i would all so like to no if you just put the pad of paper in or if you can get some monut or something

It really depends on your style. If you use a high water style, you may want to try for a flat surface. If you put it on the easel with alot of water, all of your colours will tend to run with gravity. If you work tighter (less water or more layers), then the easel may help.

Easels are ideal for landscape or working from life (ie figure painting or still life). They help you look back and forth from your subject to your piece and back. Since most people do not work very large with water colour and the paper block (those tightly packed pads of high quality water colour paper - this stuff is really cool and stiff, less likely to warp) are very light, a lap or a second chair can easily be a make shift easel. If you are working larger, then you are most likely not using a paper block (big ones are REALLY expensive), but a traditional "pad" of loose paper. When I work with loose watercolour paper (which I like for most of my pieces), I remove it from the pad. Good paper is expensive and excessive water can warp unused paper! Unlike in the tight block, the pads would allow the moisture to affect the unused paper. Here is the technique I use:

I love leaving a clean edge on my watercolours. I use a certain type of canvas tape (or blue painter's tape can work. Or even masking tape. To prevent tearing upon removal from the paper, put the sticky part on your jeans or a piece of fabric. Adhere and remove a couple of times before applying to the paper). I tape the complete edges (all the way around) of the paper to a piece of carboard or plywood (i use to use a very large clip board too). I work tight, so no worries about my colours dripping and the backing helps absorb some of the excessive moisture that can warp my paper. I then work as straight on as possible. It helps to avoid distortion.

If you do not paint from life, then things are different. If you are abstract, go for it. There are so many fun techniques and materials that go with watercolour (such as masking fluid and salt), that it doesn't matter. if you paint from photograph and work small, you may want to work on a desk. If you work big, a photo taped to that same board will help too.

Bon Chance!

Painting Watercolour Clouds

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 6:46 am and is filed under paintings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.