The addition of texture to an acrylic painting can add a lot of visual interest. I will typically start all of my paintings with acrylics and them sometimes switch to oil paint. There are many wonderful acrylic mediums that are made commercially: pumice, crystalline, hard … Continue readingAcrylic Painting: More Texture
It is relatively easy to make an encaustic printing plate and it is even suitable for beginners with a little dry point printing experience. It is necessary to have access to an etching press, however. The plates are either plexiglass or metal and are painted … Continue readingEncaustic Printing Plates
Approximately 15 years ago, I began collecting pigments during camping and hiking trips into desert and volcanic areas – mostly in Oregon and Utah. Beautiful veins of natural pigment such as yellow ochre and burnt sienna may be found along road cuts and geologic formations … Continue readingCollecting Natural Pigments
I am always on the lookout for new art supply resources. Since most of my art supplies are ordered online and shipped, it is important to find stores that carry large inventories and have experience with volume shipping. Since I have been doing this for … Continue readingArt Supply Resources
The cold wax painting process creates a rich (often textured) matte surface on canvas or a wood panel. I usually begin a painting using acrylics, whether I paint over it with cold wax or oil paint with any medium. Acrylics dry super fast on a … Continue readingCold Wax Painting
Oil paint bars are surprisingly easy to make yourself. While there are some excellent commercial products (R&F, Shiva), they are relatively expensive. Also, when you make them yourself, it’s possible to mix them in any color combination, control the amount of pigment, and also the … Continue readingOil Paint Bar Recipe
I have been using quite a bit of cold wax medium in my recent paintings and have combined and greatly simplified recipes I’ve found online from other artists. I love the rich textural quality of this medium and also the fact that it speeds up … Continue readingCold Wax Medium Recipe
There are several ways to get a crackle effect with acrylic paint. This is an easy one using just glue and paint. I’ve never tried this one before and the effect is interesting. This is actually a very old way to make crackle glazes for … Continue readingAcrylic Paint Crackle Effect
There is a large variety of acrylic paint mediums available. Besides improving paint flow many of these were created to add texture to a painting. I add matte medium to all of my paints on the palette to improve paint flow and increase coverage. Gloss … Continue readingAcrylic Paint: DIY Mediums
Adding texture to acrylic paintings is easily done as there are so many mediums available for artists today. The photo shows a simple exercise to test different types of acrylic mediums. I used Golden Acrylic products for this and all of them dry transparent. In … Continue readingAcrylic Painting: Texture