Discovering Acrylic Painting on Canvas: Beginners guide

By utilizing acrylic paint, even the novices are capable of creating exquisite pieces of art. Using a few basic items, and some painting skills, it is possible to create acrylic paintings on canvas.

Choose Your Canvas

Extended surfaces are quite good as they offer a firm tight ground that is perfect for painting. Choose paintings that have their canvas wrapped around solid wooden stretcher bars. First, let it be an 11×14 or 12×16 inches portrait size which is quite standard today. Primed canvas is coated with white gesso so that paint does not seep into the fabric directly.

Prep Your Workspace

Place a disposable plastic tablecloth on the table or the floor so that in case the food splatters, it will not damage the furniture. It is useful to secure the canvas by taping its sides; this prevents it from moving during the painting process. It is advisable to use paper towels or rags for wiping brushes and erasing mistakes as they will pick ink.

Gather Essential Supplies

At a minimum, you will require acrylic paint, brushes, a palette, and water when painting. As stated by the students’ grades, the pigments that it provides are good and are affordable given the price range of the product. To begin with, use red, blue, and yellow as the basic colors, as well as black and white. If more colors are to be incorporated into the mix, they can be added at this point as well. This is why synthetic bristle brushes are advised, as you can add tertiary colors with the same ease. Select from smaller to a wide range of sizes. Using disposable foam plates or acrylic palette sheets is ideal for mixing paint.

Try Basic Techniques

It is always more effective to practice than it is to just listen or read. Without any further ado, here are several fundamental techniques for beginning with painting.

• – It is beneficial to lightly draw the composition in pencil before beginning to paint. Design an eye-catching formation of shapes, lines, and objects.
• – When painting areas, it is best to use solid and bright colors. It is best to allow the layers to dry before applying the subsequent layers to the skin.
• – Blend your shades on the palette. Mix the paints until you get the color that you want.
• – Paint wet-on-wet for soft transitions between colors. Use the wet-on-dry technique to sharpen the edges and details of your painting.

Don’t Stress Small Stuff

Remember that obtaining very precise strokes is almost impossible when it comes to acrylics. As compared to watercolors, acrylics can show brushstrokes on the artwork. Accept the fact that the designs are not too tight and the clothes are quite loose. Concentrate more on the overall form as opposed to the fine specifics. The only thing you should do is wait until the paint dries and then cover the mistake with a new layer of paint.

Clean Up Properly

Rinse brushes immediately in soapy water to avoid such a situation where the paint dries up on the bristles. Do not allow paint to fall into drainages since this causes blockage of the drains. To use up paint that is still on the palette, wet it slightly with some water, and seal it well with a layer of plastic. Always cap, and store the acrylic paint tubes or jars properly to ensure that they can last a long time.

What Next

Once you become familiar with these basics, you can then progress to other acrylic mediums that change the texture and gloss of the paint. As another option, use other tools such as palette knives or sponges. Try combining/layering different specialized fluids and/or gels. Exploring acrylic painting techniques is a very flexible subject as the options are virtually limitless. So, with some practice, you will be painting these great acrylic paintings on canvas very soon!

The strategy is not to overcomplicate things, to be as imaginative as possible, and most importantly, to have fun. Don’t worry about perfection. Well, I say, just chill and enjoy and let the paint do the talking. Wanting to start painting with acrylic on canvas, new painters will discover that they can create stunning artwork without much effort. But if you do not mind washing it now and then, you will soon discover that acrylics are your new favorite art tools.