I am still not sure if I like working in acrylic. I tried some years ago using it in watercolour style and I was not pleased with the result. Since the Art group had a tutorial in acrylic I thought I needed to gets to grips with it. Here are a few examples.
I found the image for this painting one day when browsing the Internet. My original thought was to do it in pastel, which I might yet do but in the meantime I offer this acrylic on canvas.
This image is an experiment. I have used CMYK colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) System 3 acrylic on canvas. Initially there was no scene just random blocks of colour but eventually I put in the plant like structures. The best approximation is that this is an underwater scene with the ocean top at the top of the picture. The photograph does not do justice to the painting. On the right is the same picture (honestly) but photographed backlit by sunlight at a window.
On the left from a tutorial on complementary colours. I am debating some tidy up of the hills in the background so that they look more like hills and a dark cloud.
On the right a picture taken from a photograph published in the Daily Telegraph. The DT had an article on life on planets near Red Dwarf stars. Painted in Acrylic. The product of 4 x 2 hour sessions. I am quite pleased with the result.
A picture published in the Basildon Evening Echo advertising holidays in Kenya was the inspiration for this picture. Painted on canvas with Cadmium Rad, Cadmium Yellow, Prussian Blue and White.
This scene was one set for a tutorial about sunsets and piers. This was a serious attempt to painting using the process secondary colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black). You can get these brilliant oranges and purples from these paints but you do have to be careful with the black. It is easy to use too much as you can see from this painting. Overall? There are elements I like but this is mostly about colour and shape and form have played second fiddle.
A picture of St Nick’s Church which shows I think that I am getting to grip with the use of process colours. You can see how I did this by clicking here then you will find the picture and a description on the page.
I never wanted to work in oil but I was intrigued by these water mixable oil paints. When I was looking for some Royal Talens watercolour I saw their range of Cobra Water Mixable oils so I bought a few. I worked one trial piece which I would not offend you by displaying on this site but then I started on a real piece.
I found this picture in the newspaper, one of many published in the Winter of 2013 / 14 when wind and rain formed some interesting scenes in the UK. This painting was made using only four colours from the Cobra range, White, Black, Yellow Ochre and painted over 3 x 2 hour sessions. I quite like the result.
Very much for me an Opus Magnum. Consisting of three 50mm square panels and painted in Royal Talens Cobra water miscible oil. Each panel could be displayed on its own all edges having been painted. They were designed to fit together so finishing across the joint meant working on both panels at the same time. Each panel took about 6 – 7 hours to complete. What I had to learn is that oil doesn’t dry out. Unlike acrylic which you can over paint not long after applying the first colour the oils will mix. So much care was needed in some places to avoid creating mud!
On the left is an early attempt at an acrylic painting. The subject chosen was as a tutorial. I did second painting using crimson and ultramarine which I gave up for a fund raising auction. One comment at the auction was that some people would not bid because it was red. So I did a blue copy and offered that for fund raising. The one on the right is that blue picture.
