Acrylic Painting Tips and Tricks

Acrylic paint is one of my favorite mediums. I like the depth of color you can get from layering the paint. I also like that you can complete a full painting in a matter of a few hours. This is an advantage over oil painting, which can take days for each layer to dry. While the slow drying of oil paints does allow for more attention to detail, I prefer to work quickly so acrylics better suit my needs.

MATERIALS TO START OUT

I would recommend getting a large, sealable palette if you plan to do a lot of painting. This will help you save money because you can save your paint between uses and have to restock less often. Also a large palette allows you to have plenty of room to mix colors. I have a large variety of brush sizes that I work with but it really depends on the size of the painting and the level of detail you want to achieve. I would also recommend getting palette knives, not only are they good for blending, but they can be used to create texture in your paint as well.

PAINTING WITH BRUSHES

When I start out a painting I like to do a brief outline of what I want to do with watered down paint. I then go in and add blocks of values that I want to use to make sure I am happy with how the colors look together. This process usually takes me about an hour and this is what I end up with.

First layer of a painting I did of the Great Smokey Mountains.

The beauty of Acrylic painting is that you can pretty much cover up anything, so after this initial step you are free to adjust colors and start to layer on more paint, adding details and blending as you work.

Finished product of my Great Smokey Mountains painting

In the foreground of this painting I used a blotting technique with one of my smaller brushes. This technique allows for the colors to mix on their own and creates a more natural flow to the hills. It also allows for a more blurred line and leaves the interpretation of the hills up to the viewer. I like working with brushes especially when I am looking to add more detail into my paintings.

PAINTING WITH PALETTE KNIVES

I also enjoy painting with palette knives. While this is traditionally a technique used for oil paints, I have been able to make it work for Acrylics as well. If you work quickly you can complete an entire palette knife painting in an hour. This technique is reliant on mixing colors before you lay them on the canvas. There is not much blending done on the canvas aside from when the paint runs into other paint. There are a variety of ways to lay down the paint. For example in this painting I spread the paint in strips across the sky using the palette knife. With each new strip color from the previous would be mixed in, allowing for a relatively smooth gradient. For the mountain I laid down the paint along the contours of the mountain, allowing the colors and the texture to add to the shape.

This particular painting took me 30 minutes to complete

Whatever way you choose to paint, acrylics are a great medium. Whether you are looking for the detailed aspects that come along with using brushes, or the more free, expressionistic style of the palette knives, you can't go wrong. Painting is a great way to express yourself. What is your favorite style of painting?