Here is a very helpful acrylic painting tutorial created by  Artist and Instructor Bob Davies.  Bob has a number of free video tutorials on his YouTube page here, so be sure to head on over after viewing this tutorial.

This video tutorial is a well rounded introduction to some of the more popular acrylic painting additives that are available to artists today. These additives change the properties of acrylic paint that comes straight out of the tube.  Below is a short description of the items Bob talks about in the video.

Water

The first is an additive that you know quite well that you can get directly from your kitchen sink.  Its good old water.  Water has a couple of different uses when it comes to acrylic painting.  It can be used to thin acrylic paint in much the same manner as turpentine thins oil paints.  You can also put some water in a spray bottle and use it to spray a mist over your painting while you are working, which will keep your paint workable for longer periods of time.

Acrylic Gesso

Acrylic Gesso is technically not an additive but it is an important item that you will often see in an art store, so it is worth mentioning here.  Gesso can be used to prime the painting surface before you apply the acrylic paint. It creates a surface with a bit of tooth to it which is perfect for acrylic paint.

Acrylic Glaze Medium

This medium is excellent for creating glazes with acrylic paint.  It essentially makes the paint more translucent so that you can see through the paint and the layers underneath.  Water has the same effect as the glazing medium but there is a problem when using water. If you use too much water the paint will become too watery and will lose its adhesive qualities.  The glazing medium is therefore a better alternative as your paint will not lose its adhesive qualities.

Acrylic Retarder

Acrylic retarder is a clear, gel like medium that is incredibly useful.  It can keep your acrylic paint open and workable for longer periods of time.  This medium is your best friend if you are say working in plein air on a hot sunny day as the paint dries rather quickly under those conditions.

Ceramic Stucco

This is a thick, luscious, paste like medium that is excellent for thickening your acrylic paint and adding texture.  You can mix acrylic paints direct into the stucco and apply it to your surface, or apply the stucco first, wait it until it dries and paint over it.  You can apply it with a variety of different tools like paint brushes, trowels or painting knives.

Sand

Yes, you can add sand to acrylic paint!  So next time you head to the beach, take some home with you and add it directly to your acrylic paint.  It makes the paint somewhat gritty and creates an interesting texture.

There is one more very interesting item that Bob talks about in the video below, so be sure and watch it to learn more.  I hope you enjoy the video.  Happy Acrylic Painting!

A Guide To Acrylic Painting Additives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0wSILzNswc

Where to Buy

You can buy all of the items covered in the video online over at my favorite online Art Supply Store, Blick Art Materials.  I purchase supplies from Blick all the time.  They have amazing prices, great customer service and my shipment always arrives fast and in great condition. Highly Recommended.

Follow this link to visit Blick Art Materials Now .

Here is a free acrylic painting lesson video created by Artist Robert Joyner.

In the beginning of the video, Robert talks about an equation he likes to apply to his painting that I found very interesting. Its a 2:1 equation with 2 parts believable and 1 part imperfect.  In Roberts opinion, which I tend to agree with, its the imperfections that make a painting beautiful.

Robert likes to keep his compositions simple and his brushwork loose and abstract which makes for some very interesting paintings.  In this particular lesson, his composition is two fishing boats that are docked in downtown Newport News.

The biggest lesson I took away from this video is to not take my painting too seriously.  I know that many times I will become intimidated by a particular painting I am working on.  I will worry that it may not come out the way I anticipated and its those worries that  ultimately ruin the finished product.  I think its best to just relax and let go as Robert does in this video. And if it doesn’t come out as good as you had hoped, then put it in the “reject” pile like Robert mentions in the video and paint over it!   What a great concept.

Another great point Robert Makes is when he compares painting to a sculpture.  How he chisels away at the painting one piece at a time and little by little, the painting comes together.

All in all, this is a very interesting video lesson that will hopefully breathe some new life into your own work.  I hope you enjoy.

Acrylic painting tutorial. ‘Keeping it loose’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JuTu8LhS50

A big thanks to Robert Joyner for making this video tutorial available through YouTube.  You can learn more about him and his work by visiting his YouTube page here or his Website Here.

Here is an excellent step by step acrylic painting tutorial that I found on YouTube the other day. It is by a very talented  Artist by the name of  Adam Maslowski.  I am happy I stumbled upon this Artist and I am sure you will be too once you finish watching the following acrylic painting demonstration.  What I like most about Adam is his very relaxed, “no rules” approach to painting.  Painting shouldn’t be so structured and technical. It should be a relaxing and enjoyable process that allows your inner creativity to shine.

This step by step acrylic painting demo is in 6 parts that is roughly 40 minutes total, so try and free up some time to relax and enjoy this free painting lesson.

Acrylic Painting Tutorial Step 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSu_z9DOOXA

Adam will be using a photo that he shot in France as a reference. This is going to be an impressionistic style painting.  Adam likes to work with only two or three colors at a time.  He begins with Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Yellow Light. With a large brush he begins to cover the white of his support .  It may look sloppy at this stage, but he is actually establishing his composition and getting a feel for where everything will ultimately go.  He will now let this first application of paint dry before proceeding.

Acrylic Painting Tutorial Step 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVsRnwq2cAI

With a smaller brush and some Ultramarine Blue, he begins to suggest some of the people.  He does this quickly as he believes the faster you work, the more accurate you will be. If you take too much time and over think things, you may not get the best results and I tend to agree with that.  But of course, everyone is different.

Acrylic Painting Tutorial Step 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9trFJGeyTo

Adam Mixes up some Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber for his darks. He quickly blocks in his darks where he sees them from the photo reference.  Adam does not focus much on the objects that he is painting. Instead, he is just looking for the dark shapes. In other words, do not have any preconceived notions about what a particular object should look like, just paint the darks and lights that your eye is seeing. Think in terms of value, mass, shape.  Paint what you see, not what you know.

Acrylic Painting Tutorial Step 4

In this step, Adam begins adding the lights. Adam makes an excellent point in this video.  Don’t worry too much about making the painting exactly like the photograph. Don’t try and copy. No one is going to see the reference photo to make any comparisons.

Acrylic Painting Tutorial Step 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJZyyXCIfcw

Again, working with only 2 or 3 colors, he adds in some more color.  He makes certain to use the same colors throughout to unify the painting somewhat. Adam is not looking for recognizable objects while he paints.  He is just painting colors and shapes. As the colors get lighter, Adam likes to paint them thicker. He adds the most detail near the center of the painting, which is his focal point.

Acrylic Painting Tutorial Step 6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vt_FvcyL-0

In this last video, Adam is just adding the final details that will bring everything together.

I hope you enjoyed this free step by step acrylic painting tutorial. A big thanks to Adam Maslowski for sharing this demonstration. Follow this link to view more of his videos over at his YouTube Profile. Follow this link to visit his Website.

About Brian Simons

Being a self-taught artist, I have derived much of my inspiration from the “Group of Seven”, the French Impressionists and the Writings of Baha’u'lla’h (Bahá’í Faith). My family and I moved to Vancouver Island from Alberta, where I first began to paint approx. 25 years ago. Prior to that time, I focused mostly on drawing and sketching. I began showing my work in 1988 and have been represented by numerous galleries on the Island. From 2006 to the present, I paint on a full-time basis and have had many successes and confirmations in that period, including numerous commissions for a television production company, architects several corporate and private collectors both in Canada and the United States. I also conduct acrylic painting workshops British Columbia, Alberta and the United States….

Follow this link to visit Brian’s Website

“7-STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL PAINTING”

A 125-page, full-colour ebook (pdf) Acrylic Painting Course by Artist Brian Simons. Only $29.95 Can.

This Acrylic Painting Ebook is based on the artists highly successful painting workshops that have been running in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, for the last 6 years. It is an inspirational, thought-provoking, instructional book for both beginner and expert alike.

NO PREVIOUS DRAWING OR PAINTING EXPERIENCE IS REQUIRED!

Having seen literally hundreds of people, (many with no experience) go through this course and come out inspired by the works they produced, Brian feels anyone can paint.

A lot of emphasis is placed on the spiritual aspects of painting and helping the painter to get out of the way and allowing the painting to work, as well as diffusing many of the myths that surround art and artists. 7-easy to follow steps from start to finish.

Follow this link to learn more…

The Progress of an Acrylic Painting – Demonstration by Brian Simmons

(Click images to enlarge)

This is the original photograph I used from www.morguefile.com. Thankyou to the contributor! At this step it is very important to study the image and identify shapes, colour etc.

The second step is to underpaint the canvas. Here I used “burnt sienna and a large house brush. The idea is to simply cover the canvas in a “painterly” manner without any regard for the subject!

At this point, using burnt sienna and a large artist brush we simply “map out” and identify the big shapes we see in the image. Squinting is required to see the big shapes. No real drawing, just mapping in a few shapes and breaking up the format of the canvas into pieces of a big puzzle.

Then, before everything dries, we pull paint away from the lightest areas only. If the underpainting has started to dry, we wet the rag. Interesting how the painting is already coming to life!

Once were happy with the “big shapes” and have pulled paint away from the lightest areas, we then start our “value study”, a study in lights and darks only. We do this by starting with the darks and use a bit of dark purple to darken the burnt sienna for the darkest darks. Then with we establish the other values , paying special attention to the value differences. We are looking for 4 or 5 different values.

Once the “value study” is complete, we then start blocking in the colors starting with the darks and working towards the lights. Keep the paint thin, this is only an estimate. Let lots of the burnt sienna show through.

Here the “block in” is nearing completion. We cannot assess any colours until we get them all “roughed in” and see them in relation to all the other colours.

Now, we go back and strengthen any darks we may have lost during the color block-in and begin keying up those lights. We should use thicker paint for the lighter tones and refine things a bit more include a small amount of detail.

Here is the finished painting with all the colours established, keyed up. Notice how you can still see some burnt sienna showing through! I then sign and varnish the painting.

“7-STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL PAINTING”,a complete course in acrylic painting. The book is available in three different formats on this site! You might also consider a workshop!

About The Artist

Cameron Weller is a professional artist specialising in a traditional style of landscape and marine painting. He paints mainly using watercolours and oils, but also uses acrylics, gouache and other media. He particularly likes painting classic boats – Thames Barges, Essex Smacks, Brixham Trawlers etc., shown in all weather conditions and many of these paintings are to be found in collections all over the world. His experience of sailing a wide range of craft has helped him capture the atmosphere required for demanding marine commissions.

His landscape paintings of a wide range of subjects, including Sussex scenes and his limited edition prints have also proved very popular. He has exhibited widely although he now concentrates mainly on commissions and was Chairman of Arundel Art Society for seven years.

Cameron is a qualified Adult Education tutor with many years experience of teaching water colour painting, mixed media and drawing, and runs a range of private classes in Worthing and Rustington. He also teaches painting and drawing at Worthing Leisure Centre, weekend courses at The Earnley Concourse, near Chichester and was a tutor at Northbrook College (Sussex) for eleven years.

Cameron also teaches painting, drawing and computer image editing to a small number of private students on a one to one basis and runs an art materials supply business.

He is a great believer in the importance of drawing as a basis for landscape and seascape painting and encourages all his students to use their sketchbooks.

Cameron was educated at Wrekin College, Shropshire and gained a post-graduate Diploma in Management Studies at Brighton Polytechnic. He became a professional artist in 1991 after a career in the packaging industry – including 6 years as a Financial Director and 10 years as a Managing Director.

Follow this link to visit Cameron’s Website to learn more

Step by Step Acrylic Painting Tutorial by Cameron Weller

This demonstration shows the development of a very large painting (1.5m x .75m) using acrylics on canvas. The commission required an afternoon scene of Littlehampton Beach, looking West along the beach towards the harbour entrance. The substantial canvas was made for me by Angmering Framing and the first job was to prime it with four coats of gesso primer. The general composition was discussed with the client, who fortunately gave me plenty of scope for the final detail. The original idea of a sunset was dropped because the resulting silhouettes in the foreground would lack colour and because the sun sets well inland – not conveniently over the sea!

Picture 1

The horizon line was established and a bold sky painted.

Picture 2

Next the distant blue/grey trees etc., are put in followed by the sand dunes of West Beach and the initial painting of the sea. A band of light is suggested on the sea, where it meets the sky.

Picture 3

The Coastguard building and Lighthouse are added together with the breakwater. The sea is made more interesting with the addition of some small waves and the underpainting for the beach is put in.

Picture 4

Now the groynes can be added and some more work carried out on the foreground. Note the perspective – the viewing point is slightly higher than a standing adult – to allow more of the sea and beach to be visible and to avoid all the groynes overlapping.

Picture 5

Some sailing dinghies are now added, including one on the beach to add some colour and interest in the middle distance. More detail and texture is added to the groynes. The picture is now ready for the focal point to be placed and you will notice the immediate impact of adding a colourful dinghy in the foreground – see pic

Picture 6

In goes the boat, which immediately becomes the focal point and brings the painting alive. The two figures (my clients) are added walking along the beach; a little further away to balance the composition. A kite is also added above the distant dinghy on the beach.

The completed picture

acrylic on canvas 1.5m x .75m, commissioned by Mr W. Donaldson. This was a very enjoyable painting to work on even though the blank canvas was a little intimidating initially!