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Acylics Starter Pack
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Message
Posted
The forum seems to have drifted a bit from what a newbie might want to know and thats who we want to encourage. Any newbie dipping into the forum doesnt want to join in the erudite discussions of we experienced artists . So for the newbies in acrylics I would suggest that it would be good to advise them on what should form a starter pack i.e. the absolute essentials including brushes paints ,paper or boards. If there are no newbies out there it would be a waste of time me giving what i think is essential. This is a trial post to see if any newbies are interested. If you are a newbie ....just post here on the forum if you are interested or I am wasting my time...
cheers...Syd
Posted
Good idea in theory, Syd - please, if there are questions you'd like to ask when you've just started out, do ask them: some of us have decades of experience which we'd love to pass on. Like you, I'll hold my horses until a request is made, but I know I have enough experience to fill another book, and I'm sure Syd has as well (if not a bit more).
The information does no one any good if it's stored in our memory banks, unless you're a mind-reader, so just give us the starting pistol and we'll be off!
Posted
What about the paints which you can bring back to life with a water spray; are all acrylics like that?
And how do you clean the brushes?
Because of my irregular work patterns, I find I'll have say a 60-minute space to draw/ paint/ create and that includes all the overheads; how quick is set-up and set-down when working with acrylics?
Edited
by alang23
Posted
The acrylics you can bring back to life - ie, they're resoluble - are called Interactives. The late Mitch Waite used them, and he did have a few demos on YouTube: I don't know if they're still there now. Another who has used them is Fraser Scarfe, who has shown on The Painting And Drawing Channel - I admit that I avoid it, if not him, because of its horrible, cheery folksiness .... but you might find something there.
Interactives can be re-wetted, which I have no desire at all to do: the whole point of acrylic paint for me was that it DID dry quickly .... if I wanted to linger over a painting, I'd use oil. You can blend in acrylic - you have to get on with it, but there are "retarders", to slow drying, if you want to use them. I've had a bottle of it for decades, suggesting it doesn't get much use. Because acrylic tends to dry flat - you can create impasto brushmarks, but they're more difficult to achieve than in oil - blending is nowhere near the problem that people suggest it is. If the paint has dried, you can just use wet paint on top and blend into that - it works just as well. Frankly, I see no purpose in interactive acrylics, but - try 'em and see: you could become the Forum expert ("you" being whoever might be reading this).
On the palette front - I've used plates, china or plastic, tear-off palettes, stay-wet palettes. They're all fine for indoor work, where it's just a matter of preference (I use a stay-wet, but have to warn you that if you leave it for more than a week with paint in it, it will get mouldy), the snag comes when you go outside. Then, most of them are either unwieldy, or just too heavy. Some use a sheet of glass with chamfered edges, but again - would you take that outside? I suppose the tear-off palette is more practical than anything else for plein air work - although I always resent the waste and expense: if anyone has an alternative for work outside, I'd like to hear it. Obviously, a wooden palette is no use with acrylics because the paint will stick to it and can't be removed: not that this isn't sometimes a problem with oil, especially if you've used Liquin, but at least you can remove most of it.
Finally for now - yes to avoiding cheap paints: you'd be setting yourself up for disappointment. I'd avoid cheap boards, as well - some of them are coated with an anti-fungal layer, which has to be washed off or paint will just peel away in places. Look at your board in a glancing light, and see if there are shiny areas in the weave of the cloth - if there are, wash with cool water until they're gone: and I rather like to prime them again, with Daler Rowney gesso, if I find any like this. The paint brands - there are many; more than ever before; I tend to stick with System 3 (rarely), Cryla (often - heavy bodied, hiqh quality, and my first acrylic paint choice around 50 years ago), Winsor & Newton Artists' quality (superb, but a little expensive), and Chromacolour (obtainable directly from the company, high quality acrylic which is quite finely ground and not suitable for underpainting for oils - but then, WHY on earth use acrylics as underpainting anyway? I use this paint a lot.).
That'll do for now.
Posted
Tear off palettes are good for outside use though do remember to take an empty plastic bag with you to drop them into to cart home. Or a cheaper alternative are paper party plates , real cheap ones or plastic ones that you can wipe ( hopefully) off .
Just don't forget Amanda's good advice re cleaning your brushes cos acrylics really do kill them if they are not cleaned properly .
Posted
I've got a cold - well, man-flu - and didn't really intend to seem so irritable. So yes, on a rigid surface, you can underpaint with acrylic. I'm not saying you should, but you can. Questions on oil technique though are best reserved for that subject heading: I only mentioned it in the first place because one brand of acrylic at least doesn't take kindly to solvents used in oil paint.
And two, I would suggest nylon/synthetic brushes for acrylic rather than hog-hair and sable - you still have to ensure you keep them wet in use and don't let paint dry on them, but they're much more robust and appropriate - acrylics will massacre fine sable brushes, and painting with any water-based paint using hog hair brushes is likely to leave you with a sopping wet, clumsy brush. You can get round that by using dry brush, but then you have all the more risk of the paint sticking to the bristles. Synthetic brushes are far less aborbent and won't get so waterlogged.