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Solutions for working on a less absorbent surface:ДЎ. This is because the first watery layer didnвЂ™t grab or absorb fully into the board. These can be fine for experimenting on but the drawbacks are they have an imitation canvas surface that can be really slippy to paint on.ДЄcrylics straight from the tube or slightly watered down (5-10%) will adhere to them fine.Д«ut if watered down more (30-50%) the paint will tend to sit on top of the board in beads, taking ages to dry вЂ“ and then when the next layer of paint goes on, it can disturb the fragile paint surface underneath.

Most beginners pick up a ready-made canvas board from their local craft/art store because theyвЂ™re small and relatively inexpensive. Choosing & Preparing the Right SurfaceД¬anvas Board вЂ“ Shiny surface, not very absorbent So if you think about how diluted youвЂ™re going to be applying the acrylics and then choose or prepare your surface sympathetically to that style of painting.Д«elow is a general guide to the absorbency level of a few common painting surfaces. If you think about Watercolourists, they sometimes dilute their paint 50:1 water to pigment, but they choose an rag watercolour paperthat has been designed to absorb the watery paint effectively and hold the pigment when the water evaporates. To be clear, watering down acrylics with water is not a problem if the surface absorbency level you choose to paint on is considered. The most common questions I receive on this subject are from students fearful that watered-down acrylics will harm their paintings in the long run, usually thinking the painting will вЂflake and fall offвЂ™. All of these surfaces have different absorbency levels which will have a direct effect on the way the paint behaves when water is added. When I say вЂ supportвЂ, IвЂ™m talking about your canvas, paper, canvas board or even a plastic panel you intend on using. However, when acrylics are diluted with water you need to take into account the absorbency of your support to get the best results. If you applied thick acrylic paint, straight from the tube to practically any surface, it would stick. AbsorbencyД«efore we go any further, I want to draw your attention to the most important factor to consider when working with watered-down Heavy Body Acrylics.

With thin layers at the beginning of a painting, you can tweak your drawing and colours and then start painting thicker layers when youвЂ™re more confident the painting is coming together. Then the subsequent layers, which are slightly thicker (less diluted) will absorb and вЂgrabвЂ™ nicely into the layer below.ДonвЂ™t forget, acrylic paint is plastic-based, so if you paint the first layers too thickly, you can create a hard, shiny surface completely covering the tooth of canvas (see: What are your paints made from?) I follow this same practise with many of my acrylic paintings.Д«ecause the thinner watery washes at the underpainting stage create a really nice matt paint surface for the blocking-in stages. If you are painting in an indirect method (working in layers rather than all in one go вЂ“ Alla-Prima) you need to adhere to this rule to prevent cracking and give the painting a good structure in your oil paintings. This stems from Classical Oil Painting where you build up layers of oil paint, known as вЂfat over leanвЂ™ДЇat over lean means that each succeeding layer of paint should have more вЂfat вЂ“ oilвЂ™ than the preceding layer. When IвЂ™m building up an acrylic painting, I usually work from thinner diluted layers in the under-painting stages, up to more impasto thicker paint layers in the final stages of the painting.

THINGS TO PAINT HOW TO

(There is a huge range of Watercolour papers see: How to choose Watercolour Paper). ItвЂ™s ideal for less experienced painters as itвЂ™s more forgiving. Watercolours work best on paper, I recommend Cold Pressed paper (confusingly also referred to as NOT paper meaning вЂNotвЂ™ Hot Pressed). Oils are more tricky, so have to be painted onto a properly prepared surface (see: The Trouble with Oil) I recommend a prepared canvas or prepared board.ДЈ. Acrylics straight from the tube are the most flexible medium, so can be painted on anything вЂ“ paper, canvas, cardboard, metalвЂ¦literally anything.Дў. Your choice of what to paint on can alter the working properties of the paint and give you a different painting experience but it neednвЂ™t be a mystery if you follow a few simple rules.ДЎ. вЂњA great artist can paint a great picture on a small canvas.вЂќ

Things to paint