Acrylic Painting On Paper Views

General Goods

Papers are sold in weights. This affects the thickness of the paper. Papers that are less than 300-lb or 640gsm (grams per square metre) will need to be stretched before painting. If you don't stretch the paper it will buckle when wet making painting difficult and the paint will dry in the hollows giving a disappointing result.

If you just want to paint without needing to prepare the paper, there are pads of ready stretched paper that save you having to do this yourself. These pads have the paper glued around the edges and you paint on the top of the pad. Once you've finished the painting and it is completely dry, a knife is inserted at one of the edges and moved around the sides to cut through the glue and free the top layer.

Acrylic Painting Tip 1: Keeping Acrylic Paints Workable Because acrylics dry so fast, squeeze only a little paint out of a tube. If you're using a 'normal' plastic palette invest in a spray bottle so you can spray a fine mist over the paint regularly to keep it moist. 'Stay-wet' palettes t– where the paint sits on a sheet of wax paper place on top of a damp piece of watercolour paper /– eliminate the need to do this, but generally don't have a hole for your thumb so are more awkward to hold in your hand.

Acrylic Painting Tip 4: Acrylic vs Watercolour Washes When an acrylic wash dries, it's permanent and, unlike a watercolour wash, is insoluble and can be over-painted without fear of disturbing the existing wash. The colours of subsequent washes mix optically with the earlier ones. A watercolour glaze can be lifted out using water and a cloth.