Painting with Acrylics

[Richard Robinson]

Ruakaka Estuary - 8x10" - Acrylic on Canvasboard

Price: $150USD

SOLD

Love at Langs - 8x10" - Acrylic on Canvasboard

Price: $150USD

SOLD

Gray Day at Waipu Cove - 8x10" - Acrylic on Canvasboard

Price: $150USD

Hi everyone, I've been trying out the Golden Open Acrylics lately - firstly in the still life workshop and this last week whilst painting outdoors in the summer sun (and cloud). They're certainly the slowest drying acrylic I've tested which is gives me some hope that I can achieve an oil-ish wet in wet look with them, but man, painting outdoors in the sun dries them up pretty darn quick so it's a real challenge to get it all done the way I want it.

To be fair I haven't been helping them stay wet longer - I haven't tried them with any retarders, a stay wet palette or even a spray bottle yet, so there's more hope yet but part of me despairs at losing the juicy impasto properties of oils. I've just read a good idea is to add some retarder to your spray bottle water so I'll give that a go next too. These paints naturally flatten themselves out, so I tried some impasto gel medium yesterday in the Ruakaka Estuary (first painting at the top of this page) which added a tiny bit of weight to my final strokes but most of all it just made the acrylic dry faster. I can see why many acrylic landscape painters like Robert Genn tend to a more graphic hard edged style but that's really not what I'm after - I want all the good properties of oils without paying the price to my health. I will battle on and keep you updated.

R.

[Richard Robinson]

Thanks Catherine, yes I have tried those extensively.

[Catherine Spencer]

Richard, i just purchased some water soluable oils ... they are very much like oils and lots of buttery consistency ... but they are thinned and cleaned up with water.  I know you probably already are aware of them, but this is what im going to try next, switching from acrylics.  However, im a very impatient person and even water-sol oils dry slow (2 days-ish)  which makes it hard to complete a picture (for me) in one sitting.  Looking forward to the next workshop.