Expanding the mind, Tea Cup and Cherries, 12x12

'Tea Cup and Cherries' 12x12" Acrylic

I thought I'd try something different and work with acrylic! I know, I'm a pure hearted pastelist who favors the dusty fingered method. But recently I read that artists should try new mediums every so often to spice things up a bit. So, on Sunday I had a new student (11 year old) over for a lesson and she wanted to work with acrylics for a class project in school. Even though I'm not an acrylic painter, the knowledge of how to create is still intact and transfers well. So we jumped into the medium with a new sense of adventure.

I noticed the acrylic was very slippery, and I was awkward using a paintbrush. This 'extension' of my fingers made a distinct discord with me and at times I just had to have my fingers into the action, like smearing and smudging where the acrylic was mis-applied. There was definitely not as much forgiveness as pastel. Well, anyway, I've painted and posted this image a dozen times over and probably will continue to paint it because it has a nice combination of warm and cool colors. It also made it easy to repaint because I only had to think about the medium and not the image as much. In the end the acrylic wasn't so bad. I've been flirting with oils , but I think I'll try to master the brush a bit more before investing in another medium.

Image source: Wetcanvas