Eight Reasons to Paint With Acrylics

Acrylic paint is its own medium with its own personality. For the artists that have mastered it, it is an exciting and bold medium, and, without a doubt, it is the most versatile vehicle of creative expression. However, some artist believe that oil paint is the last word in painting and they'll believe this until their dying day. They believe that acrylic paint is plastic which they would never touch. It is true, acrylics are a synthetic medium. However, if fear of a new medium stopped progress, we artists would still be drawing with charred sticks using cave walls as a substrate. Who knows what wonderful medium creations tomorrow may bring.

If you only had one medium to work with and you wanted to paint using different techniques and different textures, then acrylics should be your choice of mediums. Let us say that at first, you desired to paint using a wet-in-wet technique where the paint floats across the substrate and creates the beautiful fluidity of a masterful watercolor. Then, you select as your next project a thick impasto painting painted using a palette knife. It looks like a wild and loose oil painting when finished. This is not enough, however. No, you must continue to experiment, and you are prepared to go all out. You strongly desire to paint in the technique of egg tempera using small brushes, cross-hatching, and glazing to get that perfect and realistic look of all the great masters. It is a passion you have had for years. You just didn't want to break all those eggs. With acrylics and plenty of experimenting, practice, and patience, you can learn to mimic egg tempera, gouache, water color, and oil paintings.

If this isn't enough, then there is more. Although acrylics can mimic the aforementioned art methods, the wonderful advantage is that they offer a wide range of techniques that are good for them alone. The results of working with this medium are so varied. When used with other media and texture-making products, the possibilities are enumerable. A few of the texture-making products are:

Gel mediumGlass beadModeling pastePumice gel

Imagine experimenting with all of these, and don't forget what you can do with mixed media and collages. Acrylics work well with all other painting mediums. It is perfect to use watercolor to soften the sometimes hard edges. Pen and ink, pencil, charcoal, pastel paints, and even oil paint works well with acrylics when painting mixed media. When it comes to sticking pieces of handmade paper, newsprint, cloth, photographs, and similar items on to another flat surface, such as paper or board to create exciting collages, acrylics are the answer. One of the greatest advantage of working with this delightful media is the lack of rules.

Eight reasons to paint with acrylics:

You mix and clean up acrylics with water. There are no toxic cleaners or thinners needed.They have a fast drying time. You don't have to wait so long to continue the painting.They will not yellow or go moldy or brittle.They become waterproof when dry. This allows you to add more paint without damaging the surface.They are very flexible. Use them as paint straight from the tube and create thick impasto painting like oil. You can also use them thin. When mixed with water, you can use it for washes on paper like watercolor.You can mix all colors in a manufacturing range without worry. They are fully compatible with each other.It is a very forgivable medium. If you make a mistake, you can white it out and start over, or just paint over it, or cut around the area and lift it off of the substrate.There are hardly any "don't" with acrylics. The only one that comes to mind, is don't let the paint dry on the brush.

In conclusion: All artists seek to find their creative self and strive to find a way to paint that belongs to them. It is regrettable, but most artists eventually settle by taking the least challenging road to travel. The reason is because they fear being different, so they paint with the medium and genre which is currently popular. Acrylic paint is used by both amateur and professional artist alike. However, the beginning painter should approach this medium with an open mind. Find out through experimentation what it will or will not do for them. As with all mediums, approach it with a patient attitude. You will learn to manipulate it with another and another of its characteristics.

Richard Burton was discouraged from pursuing a career in art by his artist father. He comes from a family of artists. His brother is also an artist. However, Richard studied business and became a successful sales manager. When he retired, he entered the art world with passion.

While working throughout his career he was an avid art student, sketching, drawing, and painting. With his background in promoting, he promotes his work and helps other artists when he can. For your online source of art information, go to http://artcenterinformation.com/

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