BUILDING LAYERS
As a teenager, I began painting in oils and got used to unhurried blending. Fifteen years ago, however, I switched to painting in fast-drying acrylics and had to formulate new ways to tackle subtle gradations and colour mixing. In this step-by-step masterclass, I want to show you several of the techniques I use to overcome the frustrations of fast-drying acrylics and employ their attributes to my advantage.
Instead of using retarders or open acrylics, I prefer to work with a minimum of mediums to dilute the acrylics to a soft, almost fluid consistency. I don’t blend colours but prefer to use pure or premixed colours right out of the tube and layer them in translucent or transparent glazes to create optical mixes – for example, I might use a vivid red and then tone it down with a brown
