Using Acrylics on watercolor paper

It is possible to use acrylic paint to paint on watercolor paper. Most of the time artists dilute acrylics with water and literally use them as watercolors. However it is possible to use them like oils straight out of the tube. Why? Well, watercolor paper offers a very archivable yet cheap support. A 9X12 page of Arches paper is about a $1. A decent quality canvas of that size is anywhere from $8-$40 and that's not even top quality. That is an increase in cost for both artists and their fans.

I did some experimenting at first and found that applying acrylics out of the tube directly to the paper dries the paint very fast and often doesn't leave you any time to spread the paint around. When I painted this painting of the sunset woods, I used acrylic gesso to cover the paper and let it dry. I still suggest stretching the paper to prevent buckling or using a block. One coat of gesso seems to be enough o seal the paper in order to create a very pleasant rough surface.

"Winter sunset"

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Playing with Acrylics

So I decided to chat on pastels for a change and got a set of Liquitex Acrylic paints. I have used oils before and always wanted to give acrylics a try so I went out and got them. I am surprised how quickly they dry, its almost like using watercolors :) The heavy buttery consistency of Liquitex was nice however with both brushes and knives. Here is my first acrylic landscape.

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Echinacea

Today I decided to take a little break from homework and paint something simple. Except it turned into something much more detailed than I anticipated :)
This painting is a Pastel measuring 12X9" on Colorfix Brown pastel paper. I didnt use any underpainting on this one and just used the tone of the paper to set my darks. When using a darker tone paper its almost like its doing part of the work for you, all you have to do is respond to it with the appropriate values and it fills in the blanks :)

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Enjoy!

Painting Daily

As much as I browse the internet and check out other artist's blogs, they all seem to find time to paint something daily. I will have to admit, however, that I am not able to keep to that routine. I usually end up painting once or twice a week more or less, but just as any artist I would like to gain experience and the only way to do so is to paint often.

I think I know what my problem is... instead of painting something manageable in short period of time, like 30 minutes, I always start something grand, large, complicated... Simply put, if I know that I cant finish something i want to paint in time I have available I simply don't start it.

So here is my resolution: I am going to paint every day starting tomorrow and do it for consecutive 7 days. Any subject, any media the only limit is 30 minutes! We will see what come out of this :)

Pastel on Colourfix (brown) 8X10

Keeping a limited pallette

Its always a good idea to limit your palette especially for a beginner. It allows you to focus on values instead of color. In medium that can't be easily mixed such as pastel it is especially important to pre select your colors  until you are very comfortable with them and then slowly add new ones to the palette as your confidence grows.

How I pick colors for a limited palette:
1. I try and set 4-5 value ranges for my paintings usually based on my sketch.
2. I pick 2 - 3 colors in the same value range.
3. I try to pick at least 1 warm and 1 cold color in that particular value range.
4. I try to keep it to no more than 14-15 colors depending on the composition.
5. I try and remember that the color doesn't matter as much as value. For example if you paint blue trees, they will still look like trees if the values were selected correctly even if you don't use any green.

Here is a quick painting done with the palette selected above:

Durand Eastman Park 5X7 Pastel 

Finding motivation and interesting subjects to paint ... try holiday cards!

Finding something to paint could be hard at times. Especially when you are unable to go places and paint outside. I found that sometimes its not the subject that gets me going but the purpose of the painting. For example, around mothers day I was determined to paint everyone a unique card that moms can frame easily after they've read it. So i began to doodle on a 5X7 piece of 140lb watercolor paper. My first try was a disaster but I was just warming up... My second came out fabulous and after that one I was able to do 2 more and they all came out uniquely different! I then glued the completed paintings to a clean piece of watercolor paper of the same size and it gave me a clean surface to write my message, I can't even begin to explain how much my ladies loved their cards. They also told me that they framed their cards after the fact and displayed them in their house. Great success, mission accomplished!!!

Each one of these took me about 30 minutes to complete.

My wife and I had a beautiful baby girl on January 25th. Since then I haven't put the necessary effort into my work or my blog and i apologize :)
Today, I just wanted to announce that I am back to painting and I am going to update more regularly so please stay tuned.

For now, here is one of my recent works. I painted this one on Uart pastel surface that I mounted to 140lb watercolor paper with an Acid free glue stick. I was curious how the glue would stand up to the alcohol under painting and to my surprise, it did really well. This painting was approximately 5X7".