Changing Mediums

 

 I think changing mediums makes me a better painter. I’ve been using oils for over a year now for my serious work. I like to change up mediums every year or so. In my long career I have taught myself to use casein, gouache, acrylics, pastels, graphite, and pen and ink.

 I’m switching over to acrylic on canvas for awhile starting this week. I always take with me a few things I learn from one medium to the next. I learned all about glazing in oils and carried it forward to acrylics. I learned all about clean mixing and placing paint next to color and value shifts from acrylics and it helped me to paint well with clean application in alla prima oils. 

 Today was my switch. I did this painting in about 90 minutes. I had forgotten how fast acrylics are. I really enjoyed it. It took me about 8 years to learn to paint with acrylics. I like to have them look almost identical to my oils in finish, easier said than done. 

 I prefer casein to gouache for opaque water based painting. Casein doesn’t muddy or lift. It is cleaner than gouache. I like pen and watercolor better than just watercolor, but I am forcing myself to use watercolor alone. I ordered some watercolor paper which will work better than MM paper. 

 It is all good fun for country painters…….