The journey continues...Acrylic

Acrylic ...that was my next  adventure. After years of establishing a following of watercolor  and mixed media I decided to take off after an idea that I had been kicking around. That "what if " question that lurks behind the " I'm bored" thought, took hold and for the next two years (remember my learning curve) I explored this medium.
At first I struggled with the properties inherent to the paint. Unlike watercolor that used water as a vehicle to spread color, acrylic just stayed where I put it. No exciting explosions of colors mixing...
 I had to create that.
 No accidental forms that pushed my imagination...I had to create that. 
WAIT...just why am I torturing myself? Is it worth starting all over again? ...but what if?

So it began. Once I set aside my expectations of painting as I had before, I gave my self permission to play. I got paint on my hands, mixing globs of paint just to see how it reacted, smearing it on canvas,papers and panels. I was miserable over the results. My weaknesses in fundamentals showed up.  I was discovering that I needed to pay closer attention to my drawing skills, value studies and composition. As I did this I combined the skills that I had already gained particularly in mixed media.
This was where my creativity began to flourish as I played . The shapes and forms began to layer and raise off the surface. My work took on a 3D aspect demanding a new understanding of the sculptural aspects of the materials. Acrylic mediums added to the plastic like nature of acrylic paint allowed me to lift rice papers off the surface and paint in, under and around the forms. I created ridges and nooks and crannies.
 My landscapes had grown out of the canvas and yet retained an abstract quality. I was creating landscapes,seascapes, florals and abstracts, I was happy, my collectors were with me, I
was selling...lol

BUT WHAT IF? ... next week ... oils!
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