http://calgaryartblog.com/miscellaneous-art/who-do-we-turn-to-us-of-course/269 an art blog for everyone Mon, 16 May 2011 14:39:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://calgaryartblog.com/miscellaneous-art/who-do-we-turn-to-us-of-course/269/comment-page-1#comment-824 Charles Baxter Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:18:49 +0000 http://calgaryartblog.com/?p=269#comment-824 Thinking about your blog it dawned on me I never answered or suggested an answer to your question about what type of acrylics to use. A Gesso base, Gesso is expensive but covers everthing / sticks to most things, even glass and most but not all plastics seemingly permently, so works well as a wonderful primer. You can get it smooth or cross hatch it with a brush as it is drying to create a canvas material look. Bottled acrylics are fine. Thinned down they work well for a water colour looking painting. A style that is harder to do to get the results you want at first. It is a great way of adding shading to area's without covering all the detail of your original painting on a regular acrylic painting which they do quite well enough for me. Straight from the bottle they paint, add extender to get them to move better while keeping the strength of the paint, or just thin a bit with water (sometimes you can erase the dried paint when just water is used so extender is better a lot of the time( water is handier and cheeper though). If you paint outdoors they are handy, less water to carry though you need wells in your paint mixing tray to mix colours. If you spot paint now and then like me, it is handy to have paint ready to be used on a moments notice. Even with thickner added they do not become thick enough to use a pallet knife as used in oil painting ( though it is fine for water lines which you have to use thin paint to achieve) Tube acrylics are great for doing oil like pictures because they give you the texture, thicknes, and allow you to use a pallet knife. Thinned down they are exactly like the bottled acrylics. Your paint mixing tray can be flat, a board, a plastic plate since the paint won't run sometimes a problem with the bottled ones. Another suggestion is have a few extra canvases, one you can use your garbage left over colours on. What ever the colour left over or the amount is not important, laugh. Prime your spare canvas with it. Be loose and free. Make a sky or water or hills with the next bit of left over colour, even though it is purple or black or yellow make trees and or a bank, none of it is important it is just left over paint. One day looking at that you'll get inspired to add details here and there, or just use it as a back ground, or prime it again and do a real painting on top of it, laugh. The bumps and humps may give you a challenge at odd times though laugh. Thinking about your blog it dawned on me I never answered or suggested an answer to your question about what type of acrylics to use.
A Gesso base, Gesso is expensive but covers everthing / sticks to most things, even glass and most but not all plastics seemingly permently, so works well as a wonderful primer. You can get it smooth or cross hatch it with a brush as it is drying to create a canvas material look.
Bottled acrylics are fine. Thinned down they work well for a water colour looking painting. A style that is harder to do to get the results you want at first. It is a great way of adding shading to area’s without covering all the detail of your original painting on a regular acrylic painting which they do quite well enough for me. Straight from the bottle they paint, add extender to get them to move better while keeping the strength of the paint, or just thin a bit with water (sometimes you can erase the dried paint when just water is used so extender is better a lot of the time( water is handier and cheeper though). If you paint outdoors they are handy, less water to carry though you need wells in your paint mixing tray to mix colours. If you spot paint now and then like me, it is handy to have paint ready to be used on a moments notice. Even with thickner added they do not become thick enough to use a pallet knife as used in oil painting ( though it is fine for water lines which you have to use thin paint to achieve)
Tube acrylics are great for doing oil like pictures because they give you the texture, thicknes, and allow you to use a pallet knife. Thinned down they are exactly like the bottled acrylics. Your paint mixing tray can be flat, a board, a plastic plate since the paint won’t run sometimes a problem with the bottled ones.
Another suggestion is have a few extra canvases, one you can use your garbage left over colours on. What ever the colour left over or the amount is not important, laugh. Prime your spare canvas with it. Be loose and free. Make a sky or water or hills with the next bit of left over colour, even though it is purple or black or yellow make trees and or a bank, none of it is important it is just left over paint. One day looking at that you’ll get inspired to add details here and there, or just use it as a back ground, or prime it again and do a real painting on top of it, laugh. The bumps and humps may give you a challenge at odd times though laugh.

]]> http://calgaryartblog.com/miscellaneous-art/who-do-we-turn-to-us-of-course/269/comment-page-1#comment-822 Charles Baxter Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:53:37 +0000 http://calgaryartblog.com/?p=269#comment-822 For a first painting it is really good. My first was a hill that looked flat, laugh. I agree with much of what your saying in your letter blog here, who can you talk to, where and how. At least you had the courage to try with this. I like you have had no formal training or degree just a lot of practice, smile, and have gotten a lot better than my first. Again yours is better, does show talent and parts are very good, the rest will come along with practice and mistake/accident corrections that work better, laugh. That is how I learned to paint anyway. Get a challenge and try. That flat hill in my first painting really bugged me. For a first painting it is really good. My first was a hill that looked flat, laugh. I agree with much of what your saying in your letter blog here, who can you talk to, where and how. At least you had the courage to try with this. I like you have had no formal training or degree just a lot of practice, smile, and have gotten a lot better than my first. Again yours is better, does show talent and parts are very good, the rest will come along with practice and mistake/accident corrections that work better, laugh. That is how I learned to paint anyway. Get a challenge and try. That flat hill in my first painting really bugged me.

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