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Work in Progress - Having a bash at Acrylic painting.
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Message
Posted
I'm trying Acrylics again. Some 30 years ago I tried them and gave up. They dried far too quickly for me, I found it impossible to blend with them.
Old age is taking its toll, I'm lucky that I don't have any serious illness it's just wobbly hands...or 'hand tremors' as my doctor tells me. One of the joys of old age. It's main effect is that I struggle with brushes. I can still use pens and pencils and small brushes provided I hold them close to the tip. To do anything, I have to rest my hand FIRMLY on the paper or I'm all over the place. I thought I should mention this in case there are any tips...people seem to find a way to get things done with far worse problems than mine. My need to rest my hand on the paper or canvas OUGHT to mean that acrylic, with its fast drying is, perfect for me. So I'm having a bash.
A while back, John reviewed a book called THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ACRYLICS. I bought it. Glad I did. It's crammed with info and lots of paintings. It's a big read, I'll be dipping into it for years to come, but thought I'd start painting something.
First I had to get some paints. After much swotting online I opted for Atelier Interactive Acrylics. These are fast drying but can be reactivated by spraying with water (they provide a mister). Even after a few days, if you need to, you can still reactivate dried paint by using a spray of 'unlocking formula' (which they provide), this enables you to rework areas that have dried hard. This sounds like just the acrylic for me. Anyway...I'll find out.
Now for something to paint on...I opted for Langton 300gsm watercolour paper (because I had some). For acrylics, priming is recommended. I chose a primer that dries transparent, thinking I can make my drawing first and then use the primer on top of my drawing. (For all I know ALL primers are transparent, I'm not an expert at anything. least of all acrylics.) Here's the primed drawing...
...I did this with a waterproof fine-liner pen. Just the main shapes, because I can no longer 'draw' with a brush. It's a sci-fi picture. I'm into illustration and like retro sci-fi. I put 2 coats of Liquitex primer on it. It was taped down but still cockled a little bit. But I left it overnight with some books on top, so now it's perfectly flat.
On to the painting...I have to paint with my hand on the paper. This means I paint differently to how I used to...in small areas at a time rather than broad strokes. First I blocked in what will be the sky (or outer space) with a hotch-potch of blues, ochres and reds, then I moved to the face and thought I'd start blocking in the dark tones first...
...at this point I remembered to take another photo, and thought 'I wish I'd mixed some colour with the primer', then I wouldn't be working on glaring white.
Next I blocked in more colour on the face...
My intention is to continue roughly blocking in colour over the whole picture until all the white has gone, which will enable me to look at tones more clearly.
Now I need to stop for a while. I think the human body is poorly designed. We ought to have 'lubrication points' all over it...you know...like cars...you grab a grease gun and squirt some grease into the points. I need some on my elbows, back, knees and hands. I'm not really complaining. I'm 86 next week, I didn't think I'd still be here, let alone doing stuff. Don't think I'm past my 'sell by' date just yet. Anyway, see you later.
...I did this with a waterproof fine-liner pen. Just the main shapes, because I can no longer 'draw' with a brush. It's a sci-fi picture. I'm into illustration and like retro sci-fi. I put 2 coats of Liquitex primer on it. It was taped down but still cockled a little bit. But I left it overnight with some books on top, so now it's perfectly flat.
On to the painting...I have to paint with my hand on the paper. This means I paint differently to how I used to...in small areas at a time rather than broad strokes. First I blocked in what will be the sky (or outer space) with a hotch-potch of blues, ochres and reds, then I moved to the face and thought I'd start blocking in the dark tones first...
...at this point I remembered to take another photo, and thought 'I wish I'd mixed some colour with the primer', then I wouldn't be working on glaring white.
Next I blocked in more colour on the face...
My intention is to continue roughly blocking in colour over the whole picture until all the white has gone, which will enable me to look at tones more clearly.
Now I need to stop for a while. I think the human body is poorly designed. We ought to have 'lubrication points' all over it...you know...like cars...you grab a grease gun and squirt some grease into the points. I need some on my elbows, back, knees and hands. I'm not really complaining. I'm 86 next week, I didn't think I'd still be here, let alone doing stuff. Don't think I'm past my 'sell by' date just yet. Anyway, see you later.
Posted
Lew I have always admired your work and the effort you put into making your artwork , you are honestly quite an inspiration taking on the challenge of learning how to use acrylics. You not an old codger by any means, old codgers sit and do sweet nothing, your as active as you can be and get on with things despite having health issues etc .
I have for years used a small cushion thst I made by folding an old pillow case until it was around A5 in size, over sown the edges all around to stop it unfurling. I did this because I have to rest my hand on something when sketching or painting, like you cannot hold the brushes high up the handle , working lower down enables me to use the cushion for support. It’s worth trying it out at the most it will cost you an old pillowcase and a bit of time . Anything is worth trying and if it helps then it’s a benefit if not we learn something new every time.
Posted
Great start Lew! Incredible accuracy of drawing which is a good base to work from… I’m not able to achieve anything near, but luckily my subjects don’t require much initial drawing out…if any!
Yes, a mid tone base to work from will help with your tonal values, far better than white in my opinion.
Posted
Good for you Lewis, nothing like learning something new to keep you young in spirit. I wish you all the best with acrylics, it sounds from what you say that they should suit you. Especially Atelier which can be "unlocked" if necessary. I was interested to hear that you can get it in the UK (unless of course you purchased it online), seeing that it is manufactured in Australia. It's one I mainly use given the range of colours. From your WIP I think you're going to do pretty well with them.
Posted
The secret to blending with standard acrylics - I don't use interactive brands - is to use a stay-wet palette, of which there are several alternatives. You can also use the slightly different formula offered by Chromacolour, especially the liquid colours in pots. They do of course dry faster than oils, whatever you do, but I don't have much trouble with blending - and normally use just water as my medium. I've recently finished an acrylic painted with a knife - touched up with the brush, for a bit of glazing - and looking at it (one doesn't always think of it at the time) there's certainly some blending.
I endorse everything everyone says about young Lew - the willingness to try different things is a good indicator that the blood is still flowing unimpeded to the vital organs, and though I have a slight degree of tremor - brought on by being an anxious old fussbudget in my case - that can add a quirky touch to brush strokes, if it's not too extreme. My tremor shows in my handwriting - as if a spider had fallen into the inkwell and then had a seizure all over the page. It's quite helpful when painting tree branches, though...
Working on glaring white IS a problem: I've never been a very competent watercolourist, but those I've know who are do tend to lay a layer of raw sienna - i.e. a wash - over their paper before getting to work on it. Many of Alan Bickley's watercolour sketches are, I think, on tinted paper - now this is acrylic, not watercolour, but the same principle applies - adding white primer to white watercolour paper is likely to lead to an unacceptably bright surface which makes it extremely difficult to judge tone and colour. Lew will know that, and just needs to apply that bit of warmth to the priming (either by adding a little sienna to the priming itself, or adding a wash to it once dried). Lew's approach is to do his (frankly wonderful!) drawings, and add colour to them - you can certainly do that with acrylics, as he's proving, using it in what Alwyn Crawshaw used to call "a watercoloury way", and build it up, should you need or want to, with thicker paint.
It was David Hockney who pointed out that acrylic lends itself extremely well to the old technique of glazing - without having to wait for a month for the previous paint layer to dry. That's one big advantage of acrylics - I'll be watching Lew's further progress with great interest.