Concert Violinist by Janet Haken

Just beautiful lovely colours!!I paint in acrylics and have just brought some liquitex paints my professional aritst friend uses them they have great colours you can buy them cheaper through the S A A magazine.

Thank you for your kind comment, Linda. I have a huge collection of cheapo acrylics, most in metal tubes that you can't finish without cutting them and still wasting some paint. Liquitex ARE expensive, tho', so wd have to replace them gradually. Have you tried using any mediums with your paints? I just read about them, as I also have trouble if I want to get a fine line, for example, with a small brush. I underestand Golden acrylics are supposed to be quite good, but as I work VERY VERY fast, I need stuff to dry almost as soon as the paint's put down. This is due to the art class I go to being only 2 hours, so you have to work quickly in order to finish, especially if there's a model. I'd love to know how other people solve their acrylic problems.

HI i have answered you on mine thank for your kind comments.As for a fine line water the paint slightly maybe try a rigger brush. I have not tried golden acrylics. I do use a matt gel medium if i want to do feathers like on my kookaburra it makes the paint lay on the top of the underpainting giving slight texture.Linda

I like this painting very much. It is very clever. There are many facets to look at within this painting it's like geometry. The wonderful dark an light within gives it so much depth. Excellent work. I have used many different acrylics - for me the system 3 has wonderful transparency and they dry very quickly. Atelier I use just like oil. They take longer to dry.

If that's what you produce with student quality paints, why change? It's wonderful. I've used Golden Open and I love them far more than any other but they do dry very slowly which wouldn't suit you. Atelier were supposed to be the bees knees but I found them very sticky and lower layers lifted off and mixed with upper layers. I stuck to the Artist quality, a step up from system three for years until I found Golden Open. I just changed over gradually and used both for a while.

Stunning painting Janet. Where do you get your wonderful ideas? Jx

Very original and as everyone has commented, stunning work.

Thank you everyone for all your nice comments. It's also interesting to read about your various experiences with acrylics. The trouble with student quality, I'm now beginning to realise, is they don't thin down very well, probably because they have less pigment in them - apart from Pthalo blue that seems to get on the curtains and just WON'T come out. They also don't seem to be opaque enough to cover up the mistakes. I think I might invest in some gel matt medium, as suggested by Linda Easter, as it certainly seems to work for her on her lovely paintings. I've got some System 3, Jeannette, but they come in metal tubes. Practically speaking, I have to lug them back & forth to my art class, so the big tubs are not an option. A lovely big studio in the garden would be a dream, rather than the back bedroom, shared with my husband that doubles as our 'studio' right now - yes, he paints, too. Ho Hum: keep on experimenting.

I love the colours and composition of this picture and the tight crop to give emphasis to the instrument. The flowers are beautifully placed, and to me as a painter and photographer, one could call this "double exposure" superbly done in paint! Thank you for your comments on my gallery and the gel pens used on all the pictures with black backgrounds are done in Pilot G-1 metallic (0.7) and can be obtained in most good stationers. Some of the pictures in my gallery have been classified as drawings, but several of them are photo derivations and real paintings. Must be computer error in sorting them out! P.S . . . Don't we all dream of a purpose-built studio!

Janet, yet another great painting, I do love your work. Once again good drawing, great composition and beautiful colouring. I think you ought to stop worrying about student or artist's quality, the difference is minimal and mainly in the handling. As long as you are not using household paint as Hocknet did as a student you are fine, durability is mainly a question for the watercolourist. I think that in time acrylic will prove as long lasting as oils. Keep posting, eveything so far is super.

Janet thank you so much for your compliments about my work. I am not a commercial artist ( I wish !! ) the reason for the copyright logo is the art club I belong to require the logo for any paintings posted on their website. Just had a wander around your gallery and found this gem! This is an amazing piece of work and I admire your talent and imagination to be able to produce such an individual work of art.

Thank you for your lovely comment on my white peacock; now if I had yoru imagination to produce something like this I'#d be happy. I'm just starting a degree course which emphasises acrylics. I'd love to produce something like this but just can't get to grips with them; I want the flow of watercolours.

This is stunning, lovely colour & interesting composition & whatever acrylic you are using is obviously working well for you. Thank you for your kind comments on my charcoal work, I haven't been to college so haven't been taught how to do anything properly & charcoal is very new to me but I am loving it. I couldn't get along with the pencils or the compressed (both too scatchy) so I only use willow as it is soft, sooty & velvety. Its probably not the right way to do it but I find its like a cross between drawing & finger painting & it is VERY messy. After a couple of hours getting down & dirty with the charcoal I look like a chimney sweep. The putty rubber is very useful when I've blown excess charcoal all over my highlights.