Changing Mediums

Day 10 of 30 in 30

"Big Flower Little Vase"  14 x 11 watercolor

                                                                                       Click to Bid

Relaxing and enjoying watercolors.

Day 11....

"Sunlit Stream"  11 x 14 watercolor

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After 2 days of working with my portable watercolor palette, I notice how similar the two paintings looked even thought they were different subjects.  So going back to a still-life decided to change palette and medium.  Wanted to address the sunflower but with acrylics.

Day 12.....

16 x 12 inches, "Hidden Poppy" Acrylic on watercolor paper

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I am always amazed by how much the medium we paint with influences the painting style.

Mary

Acrylic mediums

8 x 8 gallery acrylic on gallery wrap canvas

                                                                                                          Available at DPWs

10 x 8 Acrylic on canvas panel

                                                                                                        Available at DPWs

Thought I would share a slightly different method used in paintings these flowers.  As long as I have been using acrylics, I mainly have used water for mixing and diluting my paint.  Read an art book a while back that suggested not using water except for clean up.  The author said to always use a medium for mixing.  Air brush medium was suggested for mixing similar to water, and acrylic mediums such as matte or gloss fluid, or pouring medium for a slightly thinker mix.  Gel medium was suggested for a think texture.

I decided to give this method a try for these flowers, used pouring medium instead of any water for painting both floral paintings.  I was surprised and very pleased with how they turned out.   This does create a much richer look that I honestly was not expecting to see.  If you haven’t tried this yet, give it a try and see if you notice a difference.

Mary

Schiros_Art 

Different method, different beginning

Acrylics,  watercolor,  and oil paints are all paints, usually applied with a paint brush, a like?  Yes and no.  
The mediums to blend them are different, the way they flow onto the canvas have very different feels.  But also the very start of a painting can be very different depending on the paint you plan to use.
With oils I usually tone a canvas and start the painting neutral in color, think of only the light and dark areas.
With watercolor the surface is white and first colors are soft washes, leaving my lightest areas bare with the white of the paper showing.  
With acrylic, there is a wildness to the beginnings of a painting, often a bold color, wild splats of paint, that eventually gets molded into something fairly normal.  The last couple of paintings actually began life as the previous day's paint palette.  I used a canvas panel to mix my paint one. At the end of the painting section the last colors are used to shape an idea out on the panel to work on at the next section.
   Palette from yesterday....

               This is where today's painting started.
And this is where my panel being used for a palette ended, which might be where I start a new painting.

Mary
Schiros_Art