Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter #212 Acrylics like Watercolors
Back home from an incredible week up north at Dillman's and then Hibbing and Duluth, Minnesota.
2 demonstrations, 2 paint parties, and a great new workshop all done in acrylics. This week's newsletter talks all about this new class.
Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the Transparent Watercolor Society of America's dinner/awards night. It was great seeing all the accepted works and all the great artists. I had the pleasure of meeting John Salminen and running into many watercolor artist friends like Jean Pederson.
Next week I will be in Las Vegas demonstrating for 3 days on Stonehenge Aqua Black watercolor paper for Legion Papers. I demonstrate to all the art store companies that will be looking to carry the new Stonehenge Aqua Black Watercolor paper.
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Yes To Class at the Civic Center in Libertyville, Thursday, June 13th 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm Yes To Class at the BeckerArt Gallery in McHenry, Saturday, June 15th 9:00 am to 11:30 am
Acrylics like Watercolors
Last week was the first time I taught an acrylic class that included 4 different types of acrylics. At first, I had very few people sign up because most people that know and want to take my classes are watercolorists and don't really think of themselves as acrylic painters. In the end, I convinced a class full of students to try the class and I think they were extremely pleased with the class. We painted in acrylics but we did mostly watercolor techniques and most of the time you couldn't tell if the paintings were done in acrylic or watercolor.
There was only one time we painted on a canvas and that felt more like doing acrylics, but we still started the painting like a watercolor and we could have finished it like a watercolor but had decided to finish it with heavy bodied acrylics.
Painting your acrylics like watercolor has some advantages but also some disadvantages. The painting above of the clouds was done in acrylics but it looks like a watercolor. Some of the clouds were painted with white but you would be hard pressed to recognize which ones were the white of the paper and which ones I floated with white pigment.
If you are interested in this type of class I am doing these type classes again in Vermont at the Vermont Art Event this coming July-August. See INFO HERE. Next year I will be teaching this class again at Dillman's in the fall.
The greatest thing about this workshop was you didn't need to bring any of your own supplies and students loved that because they could try 4 different kinds of acrylics with loads of different colors and papers without having to buy hundreds of dollars worth of supplies to try.
As an artist, we are always growing to become better artists and sometimes I believe you should try something different to help you grow. I hopefully will get the chance to do more of these different classes but much of this will be decided if I can get students to take these classes.
David
The 3 paintings above were done in acrylics, one on Stonehenge White 300lb cold press paper and one on Yupo and the other on Stonehenge Black 140lb cold press paper.
WORKSHOPS and DEMOS in 2019
Morris Watercolor Guild CLASS, Liberty ARTS Festival, Morris, IL. July 20th
For information Click Here
Vermont Art Event WORKSHOP Classes, VT, July 29th - August 2nd, For information Click Here
Wallack's in Ottawa, Ontario WORKSHOP half-day classes, August 10th
Information to come
Art and Soul Watercolor Group WORKSHOP, Baldwinsville, NY, August 12th - 14th, For information Click Here
Cheap Joes WORKSHOP, Boone NC, Sept. 9th - 13th For Information Click Here
Dillman's Watercolor WORKSHOP, Lac du Flambeau, WI, Sept. 23d - 26th For Information Click Here
Product of the Week
The product I am posting this week is a white porcelain palette that back at the American Academy of Art we would call them butcher trays. Irving Shapiro, my mentor, would recommend we use these trays with a slant tray that held our paints. The nice thing about these trays is the paint doesn't stain the white porcelain like it does with the plastic trays.
These trays are used more in the studio and not in the field for plein-air as they are heavier then a plein-air type palette. But there are those artists that swear by these porcelain palettes.
Question of the Week
Questioned Asked:
Can you enter an acrylic that looks like a watercolor painting into a watercolor exhibit like AWS?
Questioned Answered: That is an interesting question that I don't have a definitive answer for. I think you have to read the prospectus and see if the exhibit only takes watercolor or takes water-media. I have done many acrylics that look exactly like watercolor, so if a painting looks like a watercolor then I think you should be allowed to enter it into a watercolor show, but that's just my opinion. Read the prospectus to make sure what the rules are.
If you have a question that you want answered, write me at david@davidrbecker.com
Artist of the Week
At the TWSA awards dinner I met John for the first time... I had to go over and tell him how much I like his work. I'm sure he has heard that before but I do love his work so I had to tell him.
John is from Duluth Minnesota and was I actually came from last Saturday as I drove from Duluth to home and then to the dinner in Kenosha WI. Very long but great day.
BeckerArt Brushes
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