Acrylic Mediums/Mixes 2024

 Acrylic mediums/mixes 2024

Wet Medium

-1/3 distilled water

- 1/3 retarder (liquitex/golden brand)

-1/3 flow improver/slow dry medium (liquitex/golden/winsor & newton brand)

- I use this medium in place of water, for mixing, and applying to the painting surface, since it does not have any acrylic polymer (what makes acrylic dry solid) in it.  This helps make the acrylic spread easier and makes it dry a bit slower. If I need to clean a brush, then I use water to clean my brush. This has been a lot of help with keeping the acrylic and oils feeling similar when I switch mediums while working on art piece. It has the same slippery feel as the medium I uses for oils.

Magic Medium

-1/3 distilled water

-1/3 modeling paste (liquitex/golden brand)

- 1/3 matte medium (liquitex/golden brand)

This was used by past acrylic painters who wanted to put "tooth" back onto a painting, since acrylics are plastic and dry glossy. Which is not very well suited to pencil drawing on top of acrylics. This medium does just that. It re-applies a semi toothy surface to a lower smooth acrylic layer. I use this now as a means to to re-adjust/draw an element in my composition if I decide to change something while still in the acrylic phase of my pieces. That way I save time seeing if my solution is working or not, before going to the trouble of painting it in. I think of it as a "new layer" in any photo editing software.

Simkins slow dry medium + water atomizer

-1/2 retarder (nova color brand)

-1/2 slowdry matte medium (nova color brand)

(use cheap water atomizer/air brush)

I learned this mix from Greg "Crayola" Simkins. He uses it as a broad means to get really soft effects in his large artworks. I use it more for getting unique edges in portraits or focal elements. So on a portrait for example, I would premix my acrylic paint on a stay-wet palette (for the portrait), Then spread a thin layer of slow dry medium over the portrait. Then while painting the portrait every few minutes or so give the area I am painting a light spray of water to keep it moist. Not too much water to make to the paint run, just enough to keep it workable. I have gone almost an hour of keeping the paint open like this. This is great for those areas in a piece where an edge has to have a certain degree of softness or nothing will look right. usually on noses or form shadows of faces.  

Isolation Coat

-1/2 GAC 200 (liquitex/golden brand)

-1/2 Clear Gesso (liquitex/golden brand)

This has mostly replaced "magic medium" for me, since it adds "tooth" from the clear gesso, and a solid semi gloss from the GAC 200. This great because at the end of the day of building up an acrylic layer (which becomes glossier, and smoother as you paint) I can see the true values of my painting at this stage, and it seals the lower levels of the painting under a brand new toothy layer. I think of it as "Saving" in a digital file. So the next day I can be rough to the painting knowing I won't disturb the lower layers at all. I also add this medium to the surface before switching to oils, since the oil paint now has a mechanical "grab" to the painting, rather than a slippery surface that slides all over the place.

Hope this helps anyone who is having some trouble with acrylics. Acrylics were designed to dry fast, so don't be too mad at the medium for doing what it is meant to do. That being said though, it can be tweaked just enough to get consistent results which make it such an interesting, and safe medium to work with. Now go out, and experiment, and find out what works out for you, and your works.

Shrimp dip recipe 2022

 Ingredients list

8 boxes of cream chesse, you can also split 4 boxes into the 1/2 fat variety.

Hot peppers (whole jar)

Jumbo shrimp 8-10 oz (no canned shrimp)

Horseradish (I use the whole jar)

Wheat thins for the chip of choice

Put cream cheese into a large bowl, microwave the cream cheese enough to be able to stir it evenly. (Do 1 minute intervals in microwave to get it smooth)

Defrost shrimp (if frozen) remove tails, put into food processor.

Cut stems off the peppers. Throw small peppers into food processor. Large peppers cut in half and remove seeds with a bowl of water. Throw deseeded peppers into food processor. (You can keep the peppers whole, if you want maximum heat)

Dump whole jar of horse radish into processor, and half the green brine of the pepper jar into the processor. 

Then blend as smooth as you desire. Smaller pieces even out the flavor through the dip.

Pour the processed ingredients into the cream cheese, along with what is left of the pepper juice.

Then stir, and stir inside the bowl.

Cover with clingwrap, and put in fridge overnight, and enjoy. :D

The Cosmic Prisoner

This piece was developed from a small page of ideation sketches all the way back to 2012.

I was thinking of a prisoner so strong, that only black holes could keep them contained. Over the years I would spend moments here and there touching the idea. I decided last month for opening a new studio, this would be a cool piece to break in the new easel, and brushes, and such. I am glad, I did a little comprehensive, it really made painting the cosmic clouds super fun, since I already had the temperatures figured out before hand.

I feel the piece came out great. I am sad it took me so long to bring it life, but my skills were not up to par back then anyway. So, enjoy.

Vine Prince- A message in light

The Mourning Dedication_12/19/2018

It has been a while. Hello everyone, and here is a little snippet I made that I thought would benefit somebody, on the subject of starting the day for artistic endeavors.

I do a lot of regular practice everyday, but most important is "DRAWING" everyday if you can manage it. (sometimes life does get in the way of course) I make sure I have a dominating intention for the day, since if I know I will be working digitally most of the day (a rendered Illustration for example) I will start that day with a digital sketch/warm up to get me acclimated to the medium, and in the right state of mind. This gives you ample opportunity to start the ideation process for your work, and freely design, or even within parameters.

Even emulation of your favorite designers is acceptable in order to learn new shapes/methods. This can change depending on your needs for the day or certain projects. Using a physical medium helps me so much, especially in observational studies. Since these are mostly for yourself to acquire knowledge, they can be created with whatever you see fit to use. For myself, whenever I do studies digitally they don't stick quite as well to my memory as do the studies created in a physical manner. As always, use a timer! I do an hour or two before I start the real work day.

I have had to keep myself from burning out by studying everyday, so I decided to make a repetitive task more variable, both physically, and mentally. By the means of different studying locations, subjects and mediums, but they all share the same underlying purpose, that to keep DRAWING at the forefront, all the while absorbing information wherever I might be, and keeping my skills sharp. Because if you really distill down any creator they must have a strong means of communicating in whatever sensory medium they choose. Drawing is that medium for me, as a visual communicator.

Here are some examples of the means I use to vary the monastic task of training for myself. Different physical locations for me to work. subjects (landscape, figurative, narrative, film studies, abstraction... etc) Also some examples of the warm ups for the day, using whatever medium I will be using the majority of the day. Notice the examples that show active ideation, usually before I set to the real task for the day. I never really show these to anyone, since they are mostly for me, but they do sometimes evolve into new works.

"Use your shoulder, Observe, Invent, and get creating. Enjoy."