I’m taking a class from Brenda M. Sylvia on acrylic painting with an emphasis on using a complementary  underpainting and I’m learning a lot. We have two more days of class and I can tell this is definitely an exercise in being open to new information, new materials, and new techniques. Well worth it in my opinion.

I’m not sure I will become a regular user of acrylic paint as the almost instant drying times is sort of making my head spin. There’s no “cheating” and mixing colors on the canvas at all. None, nada, zip.

This painting is not finished, but it could be at some point in the future. It has some significant to me problems. But I think most of them could be fixed and there in is one of the positive things about acrylic. Don’t like it? Paint over it. Tada! Problem gone. I did not do a good job with preserving my underpainting and that will be my goal for tomorrow. I really want to try and get that vibrancy in at least one of the paintings I’ll be doing.

And Brenda has ruled out using small brushes and has us working on large canvases. So, I’m way out of my element. But here is what I’ve got so far. The odd blobs on the sides are pieces of drift wood that I’m still trying to manipulate into believability, but it’s all good.

Tomorrow is a new canvas and a new still life and an opportunity to start over. Brenda’s website is www.silverravenstudios.com