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Finding My Way in a Different Medium

2/25/2024

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Blue Green Abstract  - 5"x7" acrylic on paper

I’ve painted in a number of mediums: oils, gouache, water color, and pastels. But when I’ve used acrylics, I haven’t been excited with the results. Until recently. What made the difference? Realizing that they aren’t oil paints.

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Red Sailboat Boothbay - 6"x6" oil on canvas left, acrylic on paper right

Last fall I took a painting class that wasn’t about a specific medium or painting techniques. It was about finding joy in your work, with painting as the work. Louis Fletcher, the teacher, believes that when you’re struggling the work shows it. And when you’re enjoying yourself, and you love the results, your unique style comes out. I love this idea and will return to it in another post.

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Boats drawn from figure 8's - acrylic on paper

I decided to do Louise’s exercises in acrylics because I wanted to avoid using solvents inside the house when it’s too cold to open the windows. But I was still thinking about acrylics as oil paints with water as the solvent. And I think that was what was getting in my way in my acrylic painting. I wasn’t treating it like a new medium, with different possibilities.

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More figure 8 boats - acrylic on paper

While the class had demonstrations in multiple mediums, there were lots in acrylics, and I was able to learn about layering and the benefits of a fast drying medium. And there was so much experimenting! It’s been fun to see what I can do with these paints. In these dinghy paintings, I painted over colorful backgrounds made using up extra paint from previous paintings I love the added depth and texture. For how to draw Figure 8 boats, look here.

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Great Island Dinghy - 8"x10" acrylic on paper

I’m sure there are analogies to my experience with acrylics in other areas, like moving from a camera to the one on your phone, using a new material in construction, or cooking with a new gadget. We need to let go of the old ways, and what we know, and spend some time exploring the potential of the new material or gear. And learning from others via YouTube, a class, or a generous friend, can be a big help.

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Are You Happy About the Death of Gray?

2/6/2024

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Nature's Grace - 5"x7" oil on panel, with knife

Sometime back the Boston Globe posted an article on how the interior-design world has turned against the color gray. How do you feel about that? Are you done with gray walls? Or maybe done with gray period? We’ve never had gray walls in our house, ours are mostly white or off white to allow for lots of light and flexibility in hanging paintings.

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Isle-au-Haut Rocks - 5"x8" oil on treated paper

And while I’m glad to see the departure of gray walls, I find the colors of gray useful in painting. I say the colors, because gray comes with lots of variations: blue gray, purple gray, red gray, green gray, etc. Since I paint with a limited palette and no black, my grays often lean towards one or other color. These grays and their neutral brown counterparts are useful in balancing the bright colors that I like to paint with.

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Bucks Harbor Lobster Boat - watercolor on paper ~ 3.5"x5"

Sometimes there’s an object in my painting that is well, actually gray. Like this lobster boat that I enjoyed painting from the wheelhouse of our boat when we were moored nearby.

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Sittin in the Sun - 4"x5" gouache on paper

And often there’s already a lot of color in a painting, so some neutral gray is a good supporting actor while the bright color takes center stage. In Sittin in the Sun, the chair the woman is lounging in gives us that contrast. And note the blue gray of her shadow on the sand.

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Downtown Monhegan - 8"x10" oil on canvas panel

The neutral grays and browns in the buildings in Downtown Monhegan provide a place to rest our eyes from the bright color of the trees, sky, and the sunlit side of the building on the right side of the painting.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that we do need grays in paintings, to offset the story we want to tell in brilliant bold color. But a little goes a long way, and I won’t be painting any walls that color any time soon. Enjoy the color (and the grays) in your life!

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    Bobbi - Painter. Sketcher. Teacher. Boat and Dog Lover.

    2009-2019 blogposts are located HERE

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  • Home
  • Shop
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