I got to acrylics which I have not touch for almost three years. Now I expected them to behave like oil, but of course they did not. It is a challenging medium compare to oil.
So this is a small A4 size scene on canvas paper.
My home critic said it is childish and I agree due to use of open color which I honestly wanted to mute down, but it turned to be a bit difficult as I did not squeeze brown to the pallet for this one. I realized that very late.
I used flow improver and retarder to slow down drying and help with mixing on the canvas, but it had a bad effect and paint got unsticking from canvas when I tried to paint on top.
Still it was a nice one hour I spent with this little painting.
Childish? Your home critic is a very harsh one. Don’t worry your colors will end up a bit more muted in a few days. One thing I learned with acrylics it’s to paint it a bit more brightly because the colors will darken once it completely dries. Or once it dries you can paint oil over the spots that you want to be softer and more muted - I’ve seen painters use acrylics for the base as then oil to soften the harsh points and it looks very nice. I want to try it sometime when I can afford more supplies.
The brightness of the colours makes this a little unusual, which I like, almost a shame they will becoming more muted when they dry. How is the canvas paper working for you? Looks like a good value option for trying out ideas.
@Lilikins - thank you so much my dear. I thought that darkening of colors happens as soon as paint is touch dry. I used liquitex basics so yes, I expect it to darken a bit even i was adding a lot of white to control them. These are going to be a small gifts to the guests for a celebration events we will hold soon. So I am on a tight schedule to produce 12 more... I hope I will be on time if I paint the whole weekend.
@rah - I came up to conclusion during the lunch today that I better use cad red for purples as it will make them a bit muted. This was already touch dry when I posted. Now I need to check if it darkened as per Lilikins. I agree this striking brightness comes from the color scheme that I implemented unintentionally. "Opposite colors" on the color wheel tend to be perceived brighter when they are close to each other.
It is a good training exercise to test composition and colors for oil paintings.
From my experience it varies on the brand and the color. When I first started I used this super cheap no name brand and the color changes were very significant. I use golden now and the color shift is pretty minimal except for some bright reds. However, if you varnish it - I use liquitex varnish it brings back the vibrancy.
Thanks for the advice Lilikins!
Sign in to leave a comment.
Not a member yet?
Join over 5900 other painters and share your
paintings with the world!
I will need to fix clouds, of course I noticed that only after I posted here.