The Poppies' Blog

Well, this is a painting of a photo of a flower that I have. I was doing a bit of an experiment. It looks better in the photo ha ha!

I read about art in various different places. I studied art and love most things about art. I don't like rude art though. I may sound like a puritan saying this... oh well.

Anyway, I've always told people that I like acrylics for their versatility. You can paint nearly like a watercolour with them by adding water (and they don't damage with water after you are finished like a water colour can) but if you use them thick they hold up like an oil and they have the textures like an oil painting. I've added thickeners to paint before to get an even nicer texture (I like texture in my paintings!)

Well, I've copied this excerpt and pasted this little 'lesson' from an artist's site. I am not so original after all! ha! Anyway, here is what I read:

A myriad of possibilities

The majority of artists apply their acrylic in thick coats, but explore a bit by further diluting with water and see the resemblance with watercolour appear. It has even been suggested that water colourists starting out should practice their washes with acrylics! The idea is to dilute the colour enough so that you can see the last wash through the current one, and yet not dilute so far that the new wash is hard to make out. Make sure that the last wash is dry before applying the next though! Use clean water for each dilution and use a flat or synthetic brush for the washes. Round and smaller brushes are ideal for detail.

A matter of effect

Highlighted by the oil works of Van Gogh in the 19th century, thick effect styles offer a completely new dimension to a work of art. As mentioned earlier thick acrylic can be applied with a flat brush, knife, or colour shaper, just as an oil paint and the lines and marks of the brush/knife are left in the acrylic as it dries. Create amazing effects such as waves, ripples, landscapes, trees and even foliage. Thinner acrylics need not be thrown away if you adopt this technique - simply mix them with one of the many thickening mediums on the market.

Captivating Realism

As well as all of these amazing properties and effects, acrylic has one more trick up its sleeve and that is the amazing lifelike ability it has to recreate the real world - as demonstrated in the picture by the Austrian artist Karen Hollaender. Her work - entirely in acrylic - has been described as photo quality genius and her style - somewhere between Edward Hopper and Salvador Dali is widely admired.