Happy medium

Why not do both?

There's no answer to this, which doesn't mean you won't get a few..... I paint in watercolour, acrylic, and oil - and not in that order. I wander between and in and out of these three, and occasionally take a stab at other media as well. I could be tempted to remain with the medium in which most of my best work is done - which is probably acrylic - but the trouble with doing that is that it can begin to get a little boring, and anyway it's natural to want to express yourself in more than one medium. Acrylics are often chosen because they're said to be "easy", certainly compared to watercolour. As you're discovering, they're nothing of the kind; and they vary hugely between brands and specifications - so, and for example, if you're trying to use a heavy-bodied acrylic like Cryla in a watercolour style, you're very likely to wish you hadn't. You might get on a little better with System 3, and would certainly get on better with Chromacolour, IF you wanted to dilute the paint and use it in watercolour fashion. But then: I don't really understand why people want to use acrylic paint like watercolour or oil: if that's what you want to do, why not use watercolour, or oil? I suppose because acrylic is cheaper - but this is wandering off the point, and it probably isn't applicable to what you want to do anyway. It does suggest, however (I hope) that these choices aren't straightforward, and that there's very little help anyone can offer you in making them. I suppose you could say that because you work better in watercolour, that should be your main medium: but then how did you become relatively proficient in watercolour, other than by persisting with it? Well then, you could become as proficient in acrylic - and what do you do then? I should stick with both; every now and then it helps to take a rest from one medium and have a play with another - watercolour has its frustrations, so does acrylic, but they're sufficiently different for one to be a change from the other. If you're having trouble with acrylic, by the way, remember two things about it: it responds very well to layering, one opaque colour laid on another to build up form, and glazing - the first technique not available to watercolourists, the second a very different process in each medium.

Very wise words, Syd. I am guilty of flitting from medium to medium, just out of sheer frustration with watercolour. And the time scale you quote, in years rather than weeks, to really get to grips and understand watercolour is spot on. To finally do a watercolour painting that goes right, is so rewarding. And it's probably best to forget about all the attempts that went in the bin. I must have done hundreds of watercolour paintings over the years, that I'm at the stage of 90% finished, only the last final touches to do, and those blessed last final touches ruin the whole piece. Arrrrgggggh!! But, there's just something about watching those colours mingle on the page with watercolour that can become addictive. I don't think I have ever actually done a watercolour that I've been entirely happy with, but still I'm drawn back to have yet another go. That all elusive challenge just won't go away. I pop over to acrylics for a rest, knowing that however awful it's going, I can always change it, or paint over it. But, acrylics never quite give me that inner glow that watercolour does. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, eh?