I used some Liquetex heavy body acrylics, their regular acrylics and the Golden Open acrylics all together. Probably not a good idea to mix the two brands, but I have done that in the past with Liquetex and Daler-Rowney with no ill effects. I painted the small painting in an hour and a half or so and came up with the following result. (I had to take the photo with my daylight lamps as it is cloudy and gloomy outside, so there was a little glare.)
The first "finish" of the painting was dark. It didn't seem that dark when I was painting. It is the old acrylic thing, that when the water evaporates and the painting dries, it becomes darker. Back to the drawing board or canvas, as they say.
Yellows, too.Acrylic on panel, 5 x 7 inches
I didn't paint the flowers again, but did the background and cactus over. It looses some of the freshness, I think, but it is a better result. It felt so bright as I was doing it. I didn't feel like the shadows and cactus would be dark enough. It is now about what I planned in the first place.
The finished painting on the left, and the first "finish" on the right. I am happy with the painting now, but hope I can learn to go lighter the first time with acrylics. Practice, practice.It is interesting that painting the large seascape earlier in the week, I didn't notice the acrylics drying darker as much. It could be that it dries as you go and you are working into more of it at once. Hmmmm.
Other artists use glazes when doing acrylics. This means you thin the paint and put many layers on to deepen the colors. This is more like watercolor painting and I just don't seem to have the patience required. I don't enjoy watching paint dry.
My watercolor painter friend, Molly Jackson, told me that the answer to that when doing watercolors is to work on several at the same time. Something to think about. I knew Molly in Bolivia. She is Scotish and quite a good artist. She was Woman of the Year in Scotland sometime before 1990 when I knew her, but I cannot find her on the www. Her husband, Michael, was the British Ambassador to Bolivia but I don't find information on him either. They did retire shortly after leaving Bolivia.
10 comments:
Very nice, Mom!
As for the Jacksons, according to this April 2007 article in the Telegraph, Michael and Molly retired to Santa Cruz. That's all the info I could find and there's no telling if it's still current. Hmmm...
Very beautiful. Nice colors and so realistic.
The cactus blooms are lovely!!! I even liked it when it was darker. You seem to be doing well with the acrylics! I did go over to the Southwest Art Forum & posted a few of my older watercolors. I love painting barns and took lots of barn photos when we passed through NC & SC going and coming back from Florida.
Thank you, Joanna, on the painting. And thanks for looking for Molly. Maybe we will find them in Santa Cruz.
The Vagabonds, thank you so much. You have some great sketches on your blog. Thanks for coming by.
Thanks, Joan. The dark version in real life is just too dark. I'm just so used to pastels and ink, what you see is what you get. :) I will go have a look at your barns, etc.
Jo: Love your cactus blossoms, we aren't seeing much blooming and this is neat.
fishing guy, like the flower photos on your blog, this is a good time to think spring, you are right, thanks.
Jo, your finished painting is lovely. I do prefer the final to the "first finish" because of the lighter values. I've heard before about acrylics drying darker but had forgotten that fact. They are the opposite of watercolors which dry lighter. I'm sure you will get used to it.
Thanks, Stacy. I hope I get used to them. Nice to work with and carry around as they dry so quickly. I played with some watercolor yesterday and you were right, they dry so much lighter.
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