Acrylic Painting For Dummies

[Dave Lehnert]

I have messed around with acrylic paints doing things like Plaster Christmas village houses and such. Kinda like to start exploring doing some painting on canvas. Anyone know of a good source for information on the subject? I started searching the obvious book title "Acrylic Painting For Dummies"
I need basic. Do I treat the canvas to start and with what, How to do shading etc......

[Gary Lyben]

Hi

wetcanvas.com is a good place to start.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/25905/538/

Best regards,

Gary

[dennis thompson]

The first book I ever bought on this subject, was "Painting Realistic Landscapes" by Dorothy Dent. I now have 20-30 books on acrylic painting but it remains the best for me. It contains a brief introduction & then gives 10 step by step projects which gets you into painting quickly, doing remains the best way for me to learn. For example, the first project I did from her book was a covered bridge, she takes you through 26 steps to complete the painting, telling you what brush to use, colors to use/mix, etc.. I went to her website,dorothydent.com, it doesn't appear she still has it, but it is still available on Amazon.
Another book is "Brushwork Essentails" by Mark Christopher Weber, I don't own this one but I've checked it out of our library & it's pretty good.
As an aside, when I first retired, I started painting with acrylics. I went to Michaels & for about $100, I was good to go, I then got into woodworking......& you know how far $100 gets you in woodworking:)
Painting is a great hobby & when you make a mistake, & I make plenty,you just paint over it.
Dennis

[Greg Peterson]

Dave - check your local community college too. Good/fun way to pick up some fundamentals.

[Bryan Morgan]

Dave - check your local community college too. Good/fun way to pick up some fundamentals.

All I've seen there is kids making tools for their drug use... but then this is CA, so.... :)

[Greg Peterson]

My wife and a friend of mine have taken many painting classes. The classes they attended were on Saturdays and week nights. Week day classes may be different.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Some thoughts about acrylics:

Ordinary acrylics dry very fast, which may not suit your style of painting (once you develop one). There are many additives such as glazes, "flow enhancers" and "retarders" that make a big difference in how acrylic paints behave on canvas. There is also a type of slower drying acrylic paint called "Open Acrylics" sold under the brand name "Golden".

One big choice to make in painting is whether to simply to begin painting or whether to begin with a drawing and paint over it. Many "old master" oil paintings were done over a monchrome drawing that was carefully shaded (i.e. it wasn't just a line drawing for "paint by numbers") and care was taken to let the drawing show through the early stages of the painting. It's hard to duplicate this technique by using acrylic paints directly from the tube since they tend to be opaque. (You can find information about this type of painting by looking on the web for "grisalle" or "mixte technique".)

The catalogs of online art stores, such as Dick Blick and Daniel Smith, advertise books and videos about acrylic painting. (I haven't looked at any of them myself.)

[Dave Lehnert]

Thanks everyone for the help. I have some info now to do some research.