Painting Technique

To help participants in deciding what techniques they can use, the News On Sunday team will each week, introduce you to a new technique. This week, we start with Acrylic painting. Acrylic painting is painting executed in the medium of synthetic acrylic resins. Acrylics dry rapidly, serve as a vehicle for any kind of pigment, and are capable of giving both the transparent brilliance of watercolour and the density of oil paint.

Tips:

Keep the paint moist with a plant mister Since acrylic dries so quickly it is important to have a plant mister on hand to spray the colors on your palette and keep them from drying out as you work. You can also spray water directly onto your canvas or paper to keep the paint workable and for different painting effects, such as drips and smears. Work quickly One of the pitfalls for beginning painters can be that while they are working slowly and carefully on their painting, the paint on their palette is drying Keep paint wet in order to blend Because acrylic dries fast it can be hard to blend colors and edges, but it can be done. Keep your paint wet and workable (though not drippy), use a filbert brush, and then go over the area you want blended with a clean dry brush to soften the edge even more. Use synthetic brushes Acrylic paint can be hard on brushes, particularly natural fibers. It can dry them out and cause them to become brittle and degrade over time. Synthetic brushes made of nylon or polyester filament are available that mimic the traits of natural fiber brushes and are better suited to acrylic paint.