ACRYLIC - MATERIALS

                      Before we start painting you need to know what to use !

                                                 SUPPORT

Canvas or canvas on board -  Acrylic paper - Watercolour paper - Any kind of support which is not oily (you can paint oil on top of Acrylic but not Acrylic on top of Oil)

I very often use Mount board covered with Gesso (Acrylic Primer).   If you do not cover the mount with a protective primer the paint will sink into the support       

Here I have applied gesso with a sponge to cover the area to be painted. Do not forget that if you are using a brush or sponge you must wash it immediately or they will be ruined.

This painting was done on a size A1 mount board covered first with Gesso.

                                                            PAINT

Experience has tought me a great lesson :

Buy a few tubes of paint but QUALITY - you will never judge a medium or achieve a good result with any cheap paint. When I started in Acrylic or Oil I bought 3 colours  + White to try. When I loved the results I added more colours.

So to start the first project I will recommend :

Artists Acrylic WINSOR & NEWTON ( I love their qualities - fresh, bright, drying without changing colours etc..) and do not dry as fast as other acrylic paints.

Titanium White -Cadmium Yellow Deep or medium - Cadmium red medium - French Ultramarine.

Mixing the colours you can get orange, green, brown, purple and black.

Example of a painting 10"x8", Acrylic executed with THE 3 COLOURS + WHITE.

                              STAY WET PALETTE

Stay wet palette can be found in all art shops, however artists have found another way to keep their paint wet for a long time with their own devices. It allow them to use all sizes of palettes.

First you need a flat plastic container that you cover with kitchen towels and water as below :

You then add some greaseproof paper (waxy side on top of the wet towels) as shown below

Flatten well the paper and your paint can be laid on it. When your painting session is over you can cover it either with a lid of a plastic film. The paint will stay wet for almost a week.

                                                   BRUSHES

 You can paint with either Acrylic brushes ( I never do ) or synthetic brushes, or filbert like in Oil, use shapers, sponges, twigs, fingers, almost anything.