As I look back on some of my previous year’s artwork (see below) I can see how much I enjoyed experimenting. I started with a big first step for me and that was diving into acrylic painting. After decades of painting in watercolours on paper, using acrylics was such a foreign and unknown territory for me. I was challenged by the paint’s consistency, their fast drying time and colour mixing process. So much to learn but so much to gain! I could now paint on new surfaces; stretched canvases, canvas board and wood.
I learned about prepping my surfaces with gesso before painting and if it’s thickly applied you can dig textures into it before it dries. You can endlessly paint over areas of your painting when working with acrylics. Hiding spots and creating new. You can also use a myriad of utensils to paint with acrylics beyond just brushes. Palette knives, sticks, your fingers, rags, rollers, and sponges to name a few.
As you can see it’s been a fantastical journey of discovery for me. During this past year I played with different subject matter, styles, colours, and genres. I tried my hand at working within oddly shaped extreme formats, not just standard squares and rectangles. I created my very first ever diptych, ‘Tippy Table Top’! Acrylic painting has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me and I am planning on riding that pony on into this new year. I especially enjoyed creating abstract paintings where the sky is the limit creatively. I was thrilled to see movement and vibrancy dancing all over my canvas as I got to paint intuitively with such freedom.
total size 40″x20″x2″
Many of the above paintings have been profiled previously in my weekly art blogs. This is where I discuss and reveal my many methods and share the interesting back story on why I painted them. I am up to 32 blogs so far and look forward to how this fresh new year full of promise will have me writing more. I have a lot of new ideas brewing in me and I can’t wait to be in my art studio and begin creating! Please continue to join me on my art adventures, thank you and talk soon!
To see these finished original acrylic paintings close up and for more of my paintings available for sale please go to my original art watercolour and acrylic galleries on this website.