Tag: Acrylic

By: Lottie Bynum

To paint with acrylic you need materials.

• Paint (The primary colors and white)
• Water
• Brushes
• Canvas or Paper
• Paper towel
• And news paper or a trash bag
• A pallet or plate to put the paints on.

While assembling the materials you will need to set up a suitable space to paint with the trash bags or newspaper. Lay them out on the floor or on a wall if you want to set your painting against it while you paint. Then get your area ready by setting out your water and pallet/ plate with paints. Make sure the water and paint are close so you can clean and switch colors quickly. Cover the canvas or paper with an “underpainting” by painting the canvas in one color; underpainting helps the colors blend batter and makes sure the painter doesn’t miss any areas while painting. Sketch your design or drawing in on the canvass or paper then start laying in base colors in the areas you want to paint. I usually start with a lighter color and then layer darker colors on top and build layers and depth. You may lose some details this way but it is a method to paint. The other way to start a painting is to start with three base colors: one for the regular, one for light, and one for dark to separate the painting. Painting this way the painter will keep more details in their painting. After getting the base colors in, start to build in darker or lighter colors to shape and add values to the painting. It’s helpful to start to work in sections instead of the whole painting at once, especially with acrylics as they dry quickly and blending becomes more difficult. Working on the sides of the canvas for people who paint on canvas, they can do two different things: either black edges or continue their painting on the edges. Both methods look pretty, however to save time the black edges will help if the painting is going into a frame.