Experimenting with Liquid Acrylic
by Linda Gunn

I began painting in watercolor more than 15 years ago. As my skill level evolved, I constantly searched for a magic ingredient to help me improve my paintings. However, I believe and teach that emotional content, not paint media, makes for a successful painting. So why did I continue to search for that special product? Because often an innovative new paint medium can make it that much easier to convey that emotional message.

I discovered liquid acrylic ink to be my magic wand. This pigmented acrylic is finely ground to take on the consistentcy of ink, and flows easily through an airbrush. Benefits include lightfastness, bright color with the initial wash, no color lifting when dry, diluted soft effects, crystal-clear transparent glazes, the ability to cover up mistakes, and, when the paint is still wet, the ability to perform all watercolor techniques.

I prefer FW's Liquid Acrylic Ink because it's the most fluid acrylic I've found. Water spreads it well. Liquid acrylic can be applied to the painting directly from its bottle. The other acrylics need to be thinned with water when I use them as watercolor. With liquid acrylic, it's nice to be able to eliminate that time-consuming process of taking the "squish" out of paint.

Step by Step

THE STARTING POINT
Before I paint, I review my sketches, written observations and photographs. I look for subjects that have an interesting composition and/or strong lighting. When I started in watercolor, I avoided painting the center of interest in my paintings because I feared making a major mistake. My first full-sheet flower painting had a wonderful background with leaves, flowers and stems weaving in and out of light and shadow. But I was afraid to paint the detailed flowers that I sketched in the foreground. Once I had completed the background, I put the painting under my bed, where it stayed for six months.

During this time, painting backgrounds was my specialty. But I finally decided that if I wanted to get anywhere as a painter, I'd have to bite the bullet and finish the painting that was under my bed. To my surprise, I had learned the necessary techniques for painting details from my background painting experience. The same painting that cowered under my bed for six months was later displayed in a watercolor painting exhibition.

EXPRESSIVE SUBJECT MATTER
I've never had a problem finding subject matter for my paintings, I have several sketchbooks that I use for watercolor sketches, documenting personal observations and the visual descriptions of details a quick sketch can't portray. I also take a lot of photographs. My sketches and written observations help me "bring back the moment" when I decide what photograph or photographs I'll be using as a reference. After all, a good painting should be more than an exact copy of a great photograph.

It was from studying the working methods of Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper that I learned that the best paintings are a personal statement of one's life experiences. Every one of us interprets life's experiences in a unique way. What a wonderful challenge we artists have to communicate our own "personal vision" through our paintings. An artist's personal vision is simply an illustration of how that artist sees and interprets things that are beautiful, emotionally moving or visually striking.

Many professional artists paint a variety of paintings centering around the same subject or theme. Painting in a series helped me develop as an artist. I find that when I plan more than two paintings, I'm not so inclined to paint tightly. I have a so-what-if-I-make-a-mistake attitude that turns every painting into a learning experience.

FLAWLESS BACKGROUNDS
Five years ago I watched artist Nita Engle demonstrate her famous "pouring technique." After masking out all the white values, Engle would pour watercolor paint directly onto very wet paper, turning the paper to let the water mix the paint. This has become my own secret to beautiful, flawless backgrounds, skies and landscapes. I began experimenting with Engle's technique by using any media that would allow water to be its agent. Along with watercolor, I've used acrylics, inks, watercolor dyes, gouache, and, most recently, liquid acrylic.

TEST-DRIVING LIQUID ACRYLICS Here's a fun experiment using liquid acrylic: Wet an entire piece of hot-pressed paper, then drop any three primary colors of FW Liquid Acrylic onto the paper. Now, turn and tip the paper so that the water mixes the paint and covers the whole paper. Add more paint if you want it brighter. (This is a messy process; do it in a sink or tub if you don't have paper towels and quick hands.) Now, lay the paper flat. When the shininess of the wet paper is gone, spray it with water from a pump-type spray bottle. (I use a Windex bottle – I've found it produces the best effects.) A spray of fine mist has no effect on the damp acrylic. You'll be delighted with your instant results, which should resemble the look of transparent stained glass. Let the painting dry, then rewet it. With a large wide brush, glaze over your painting with any of the transparent liquid acrylics. (The acrylic bottles are printed either transparent or opaque on their labels.) After the glaze has dried, the painting will be ready for your personal creative inspiration.

Pouring paint is a very entertaining demonstration for my beginning students. What could be less intimidating than covering the whole piece of paper with paint simply by pouring on the pigments and letting the water mix them? I've found that watercolor paint requires a lot of mixing to get a good-size puddle suitable to pour. To save time, I began using Luma Liquid Watercolors – a medium that's actually bright, transparent dyes. The dyes are very intense so I usually dilute them for a softer effect.

I start a new painting by staining the entire piece of watercolor paper. To do this, I quickly pour three diluted colors of paint onto very wet watercolor paper, then tip the paper so the excess water and paint run off. I leave the paint on the paper for a short time, just long enough so that it lightly stains the paper. This way, I've already established my lightest values and the background is done! My planned composition is then painted over the dyes with traditional watercolor. The only deterrent to using these dyes is that several of the colors are not lightfast. To keep my Luma paintings from fading, I frame them with UV-protected Plexiglass.

EXPERIMENTATION
Every painting is a learning experience, and when I use liquid acrylic, it becomes a learning experiment. I get so excited with the result that I find myself using the experiment as background for a representational painting. When dry, acrylic can't be removed, but it can be painted over to cover mistakes or bring out an interesting area. To keep my paintings transparent, I use many thin, diluted layers of paint. When applied too thickly, the acrylic will seal the watercolor paper, which makes the paper non-absorbent. With each layer of paint, the surface starts to build up. Too many layers or too much paint right from the bottle will give your painting a plastic sheen. When I find this happening in my work, I cover the shiny parts of my painting with collage papers and repaint them. The collage papers create an atmospheric softening effect.

You can see how I used liquid acrylic to paint Flamboyant (22 x 30). I've found that liquid acrylic doesn't make me a more skillful painter. It doesn't inspire brilliant subject matter or make my style mistake proof. But it does make it easier to skillfully manipulate my brush. Thus, liquid acrylic helps me render brilliant subject matter when I am so inspired. And when I make a mistake in liquid acrylic, I don't throw up my arms in defeat – it gives me a second chance.

But the most important thing liquid acrylic has done for my painting skill is give me the confidence to paint beyond the background, and pull my half-painted masterpieces out from under the bed.