Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Acrylic Workshop

Recently, I conducted a, "Getting Acquainted with Acrylic" workshop. Most of the participants were oil painters who wanted to try out a different painting medium. The purpose of the workshop was to explore how the paint behaves on the painting surface using a variety of implements, e.g. brushes, knives, cloths, shapers and fingers, using a variety of mixtures of paint, from thin watery washes to sensory mixtures with the feel of soft serve ice-cream. I demonstrated how I customize my paint, adding a little medium and water until it is a lovely creamy consistency. We covered the painting surface with medium and painted directly into this. The medium keeps the surface moist and is ideal for colour mixing on the painting surface.
We created monochromatic landscapes after mixing a variety of values from indigo through to white in small tubs. It was fun to load two big brushes with light and dark paint and move the paint around to create spontaneous shapes. We used a palette knife to scrape into the paint and to mix the thick paint on the surface.
Using white ice-berg roses as our reference, we created lovely organic shapes in our second painting. Thin watery paint was splattered and poured onto the surface and allowed to drip, run and merge.
The shapes of the flowers were then wiped out with a cloth. We played with creating line with a pipette and rubber shapers. Paint was then applied with large brushes, a cloth and our fingers.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dianne,
Looks like a very good demo, wish I could have been there. I have just started using acrylics again - now winter is here, because I can't take the fumes that oils give out.

Dianne said...

Hi Carol, gosh yes, what about all those fumes when the windows and doors are tightly shut against the cold - what do oil painters do?

sukipoet said...

Oh this looks delightful. I wish I could have been there to learn and play. I love it you are doing this in your bare feet! Thanks.

Art with Liz said...

Oh Dianne, I need to come and play with you - I just don't have any acrylic paints!

Dianne said...

Hi Suki, yes, it all works better in bare feet!

Hi Liz, I would love you to come and play! Pity you ditched your acrylics.

Tonya Vollertsen said...

So fun to see the process! Thanks! Have you posted it finished somewhere yet?

Carol said...

Hi Dianne. I have not as yet ditched my acrylics and would love to do a workshop with you! Please keep us posted as to when the next one will be. I have been using Artists Spirits but even that is starting to affect me. I have since learnt it is even worse for you too. I just battled to get the right colours with Acrylic!

Marie Theron said...

Hi Dianne, thank you for visiting my blog and your kind comments. I love your experiments with acrylics as shown here. I lectured wet-in-wet watercolour painting for
years and will join your workshop one day!

Dianne said...

Dear Tonya, I just love getting lost in the process. I will post the finished paintings when I have completed them - I seem to take ages to finally decide that a painting is complete!

Dianne said...

Dear Carol, I am so looking forward to repeating this workshop on 12th December and sharing what I have learnt with you regarding this amazing medium. I do worry about the oil painters in the colder climates and how they cope with ventilation in their studios.

Dianne said...

Dear Marie, it is so good to meet a fellow painter/blogger is this neck-of-the-woods. I am going to enjoy following your postings.

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

What a wonderful day Diane. Thanks for so much process information. I, too, always mix medium with water before dipping my brush into huge piles of squeezed paint, but I never thought of putting it down first on the canvas before adding the paint. Can't wait to finish current Elements piece and have a go this way with some free floral work.

Kim Rodeffer Funk said...

Dianne, this sounds like a wonderful experience for everyone! You students were very lucky to have you to share your vast knowledge of acrylics with them. Sometimes all it takes is a little push, isn't it?
This just looks like so much fun and you look as though you were really enjoying it, too. Thank you so much for sharing this here with those of us who could not attend your wonderful workshop!

Dianne said...

Dear Joan, I hope you have a great time painting into the wet medium, it completely changes how the paint behaves!

Dianne said...

Dear Kim, this was the most amazing experience for me, I discovered so much about myself conducting this workshop. I had an amazing response and am about to run a third workshop to fit in everybody that was keen to participate!

artistinthemaking said...

That looks really interesting and im sure your students have learnt a lot. I have never worked with acrylics, just oils and now started with watercolors. I intend to attend a few
art workshops based on acrylic medium. Seems like your ideas of teaching are pretty innovative

Caroline said...

I really enjoyed being walked through this workshop. I don't use paints at all, so there was much to learn here. I like your work a lot. It feels uplifting.