Fun With World's Most Versatile Medium

I'm talking about acrylic paints and gels. Patty Brady, in her book 'Rethinking Acrylic' called acrylics 'world's most versatile medium.' Last night I pushed some creative boundaries and I can say that I don't remember when was the last time I had soooo much fun. I love vivid colors, thick textures and getting my fingers dirty in the process. There's something wonderful about touching whatever is being created. Usually only my eyes get to be fully involved in the process, hence the term ~ visual arts. But the child within me doesn't just want to be a passive observer, she wants to use all her senses in the process. Of course, I exercise caution as I'm working with chemical compounds after all, but the texture of Extra Heavy Gel mixed with paint sooner or later gives into gravity....drip, drip, drip, down my palette knife, down my palm, and I try to stop it before I have to throw away yet another article of clothing.

The piece I was working on last night is a reminiscence of the one my dog chewed on. I used a 2x2 plywood, covered it with two coats of gesso before pulling out a dozen of liquid and heavy body acrylics and a full jar of Extra Heavy Gel Gloss.

That entire process was very expressive and fluid as I picked out each color one by one, applied where it 'wanted' to find its place and continued to work the paint, and later Extra Heavy Gel, into the surface. Once it felt finished I used a plastic lid from one of the 8oz. gel jars and begun to impress it onto the paint-gel mixture. In some places I opted for more pressure and kept on twisting the lid around a bit for an even more dramatic impression.

I strongly encourage you to just go X-Wilde with your paints, get a cheap strata (in my case about $3 for four square feet of painting surface!) and the cheapest paints, pastels, or remnants of interior paint will do (in fact Home Depot has a section called "Oops Paint" - seriously- it's not by the paint department, usually somewhere in the back, ask someone to be directed there. I bought a one quart can of paint for $1 and a gallon can goes for $5. More importantly a lot of those 'odd colors' such as fuchsia or lime green, are fun for an artist and a pain in the $^%^&*& for a store to sell since there is no returns on mixed paint)

P.S.

For anyone interested I can post the long, long list of all paint colors I used in my painting , but at this point you've scrolled down enough if you're reading these words....