Currently Browsing: Acrylics 10 articles
Always Be Playing: Try Different Approaches with the Nearly Same Media
It is important to experiment using different media together to come up with a look that suits the subject and mood of your sketch. If you don’t push yourself to try different media in different combinations you’ll never find what you like the look of; and what you most enjoy using. In this post I’ve […]
Acrylic Painting—Some Books and Materials Recommendations
In December 2018 I wrote a post on how to deal with an artistic plateau. I included some book recommendations in the hopes that readers would use some of the books as workbooks for self-study, to work themselves off the plateau they found themselves on. I added pen and ink as well as drawing books […]
Blast from the Past: Sketch in Any Moment
I was clearing out the flat file while under the weather and not fit for much. I found today’s sketch and scanned it. Readers know that from July 1, 1998 through January 26, 2003 I drew a sketch of my Alaskan Malamute Bitch Dottie every day. I sometimes forget that besides filling 43 volumes of […]
Storing My Montana Acrylic Markers
I am frequently asked how I store my Montana Acrylic Markers. As you can see from the photo I use a cleaner’s caddy. I cut stiff cardboard dividers to insert into the two main wells. These dividers are held in place with tape on both sides so that they don’t move. (See the side of […]
Having Fun With Book Board Scraps
In December I wrote, “Five Things To Do When You’ve Got Paper That’s Just Too Bad To Work With.” In that post I wrote about gessoing over paper that you don’t enjoy working on so that you can still use the paper, but not feel limited by the paper in its manufactured state. […]
What’s on the Table?—The Curl of the Paper
I just love working in my favorite Japanese Lined Journals from APICA. The paper loves the Pentel Brush Pen. Sometimes I work in gouache on this paper, but sometimes I leave the sketch as is and turn the page. Other times I put in an acrylic marker background. I used an orange 15mm wide Montana […]
Searching for a New Rubber-Stamp Ink
I use pigmented rubber-stamp ink in my artwork. It’s a crucial part of what I like to do—creating surface texture with stamped lines and words: a type of visual collage without glue. (Don’t get me started on my problems finding a new glue.) It’s hard to believe I’ve been looking for a stamp ink replacement […]
Use What You Have Out
I have a lot of students who tell me they don’t have time to sketch. They tell me they have to make a space to work or they have to get supplies out. They tell me that they don’t have time to make background textures. They also admit that they are doing about 15 other […]
Exquisite Corpse with Wet Paint
Above: An 18 x 30 inch acrylic painting I made on Stonehenge white. I began with a series of sketches and thumbnails. I blew elements up and composed them into place. I then drew my sketch with the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and painted with Daniel Smith Acrylics, using large filberts—about 1- and 2-inches wide. At […]