Idle Reflections - Goondiwindi

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Comment by Colleen McCafferty on May 9, 2014 at 18:13

Thank you Stu and Inga for your great comments which are very much appreciated.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on May 4, 2014 at 1:13

Wonderful composition Colleen. Great greens. Stu

Comment by Colleen McCafferty on May 2, 2014 at 17:17

Thank you very much Richard.

Comment by Richard Rogers on May 1, 2014 at 22:43

Hi Colleen. Use as much of the mediums as you wish to create whatever consistency of paint you want. After that just use the water spray to rehydrate as needed

Comment by Colleen McCafferty on April 29, 2014 at 16:12

Thank you Richard for taking the time to give me all of that helpful information.  I very much appreciate it.  I'm definitely going to get some of the slow medium and try the muffin tray.  Do you just put a couple of drops of the slow or clear painting medium on each paint colour and mix it in?  I like the idea of not having to keep adding more.  I do use mostly Atelier Interactive acrylics but I also have some W & N ones which are smaller tubes and I took them with me to save on weight.  But they are quite thick.  Next time I'll just stick with the Atelier ones.

Again- thank you! :-)

Comment by Colleen McCafferty on April 29, 2014 at 16:02

Thank you Cristina and Olivia for your lovely comments.  

Olivia, we are not far enough west to be in the Outback as such.  I guess this is just the "bush".  So the lovely red soil and bright colours are not in this area.  Plus there has been some good rain recently so everything is very green.  No, I don't smudge with my thumb - can't keep the paint wet long enough to do that successfully.  I think I would just end up with thumbprints! :-)  But I use a very large synthetic filbert brush on it's side and that seems to work ok.

Comment by Richard Rogers on April 29, 2014 at 12:59

Hi Colleen. Yes, It can be quite a challenge painting with acrylics in hot, dry and windy conditions. What sort of acrylics are you using? I use Atelier interactive acrylics which don't skin over and can be rehydrated,  even after they are touch dry, to enable blending. If I am painting in conditions such as you describe, I would use either Atelier clear painting medium or one of the 'Slow' mediums to extend the drying time. I prefer the Thick Slow. These mediums keep the paint open to allow rehydrating and enable the paint to hold more water which slows the drying time. I would use a spray mister to apply water to the painting and the palette as needed. The trick is you don't have to keep using the medium. Once it has been mixed in with the paint the spray bottle should be enough to keep the paint workable. I also like to use a muffin tray as a palette in the sort of conditions you describe. The deep wells allow me to make quite wet mixes and paint with a more watercolour approach. Cheers.

Comment by Cristina Mihailescu on April 29, 2014 at 8:06

Lovely work dear Colleen!

Comment by Olivia O'Carra on April 29, 2014 at 6:30

Beautiful. It looks so cool despite the heat you describe. So different from the one from  the outback.

The trees are so soft. Do you smudge with your thumb?

Comment by Colleen McCafferty on April 28, 2014 at 22:32

Hi Richard, thank you for your great comment.  No it wasn't done plein-air although we are camped only about 20 metres from the lagoon.  I did it from a photo.  It has been very hot and dry here since we arrived and I have been struggling big time with the acrylics drying too fast making it impossible to blend.  I keep the water up to it, but it's just not enough.  I'm thinking I should have bought my oil paints with me but I know they also come with the problem of storing wet paintings while travelling.  Maybe a slow drying acrylic medium might be the way to go?  What do you do when painting in really dry conditions?

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