another painting.. which always leaves new questions *s*

[Robert Gross]

 

This painting started out with good intentions.. mainly, of having a meadow, with long grassy stalks everywhere.. now, why is it, when using acrylic paint, no matter how much you 'work' the painting, the colors just seem to fade into the canvas and disappear? 

I'm beginning to think I'm going to throw acrylic painting over, for oil, just to make sure I can paint a grassy stalk, and it STAYS visible!!! Comments?  I'd love to hear how other folks handle this annoying problem...

Cheers,

 

Robere

 

[Robert Gross]

Sharon, you too? LOL  I also enjoy Tim Gagnon's videos.. oh, those red trees!

Between Tim and Richard's info, I hope to improve, but then, somebody told me once, all you had to do to develop a 'style' was to paint 500 paintings.  So, I better work faster *s* Your red tree is so nice, and warms up the chill of the fog.

[Sharon Coyle]

Here's another painting of a red tree I did after watching a free painting lesson from Tim Gagnon. Both Tim & Richard has been a tremendous influence in my painting recently.

[Sharon Coyle]

Since your painting in acrylics I strongly advise you check out Tim Gagnon's web site. He has a lot of helpful videos on You Tube also.

[Robert Gross]

Veronica, thank you for the great tips on your use of acrylic! 

It's always helpful to hear from people who have 'switched' from one medium to another, if only to find what challenges each one presents - I do use a lot of purple, both for background and for shadow, (almost too much, sometimes), and I like the way Sap Green and Diox Purple both cover the canvas, to give you a deep, rich, backdrop. 

[Veronica Summers]

I used oils 20 years ago and really badly and couldnt afford it then..lol and now I've dabbled in the last 3 years in acrylic. One thing I've learned is grounding ( I use a deep purple mostly) and stark contrasting of colours to create depth, oils appear to do it all by themselves with little effort probably because of of its viscosity, even my really bad paintings popped off the canvas full of texture. You could try using impasto or other mediums if you desire a more 3 dimensional feel(one of my favs) creating a dark background then overlaying your lighter tones in layers may help a field of grain stalks with some slight horizontal sweeps along edges or bases of things on the ground for grounding

[Robert Gross]

Thanks, Sharon!  I do use light over dark, but I normally add a little water, and use no medium.  That could be it!  I'll try that, and let you know - (very nice horse picture, by the way - I've tried animals, but they always end up looking like trees *s*.  Hence, I do landscapes,

cheers,

[Sharon Coyle]

Hi I paint with acrylics all the time and don't quite understand what you are saying about the colors fade into the canvas. Have you tried painting light over dark? Let the dark paint dry. Then go over it with a lighter color for your blades of grass. Don't use a lot of water; try a blending medium instead so you don't break down the pigments.