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| A Time for Peace by April M Rimpo |
A Time for Peace
fluid acrylic on paper
10" X 20" image mounted on 2" deep
Cradled Wood Panel
Cradled Wood Panel
SOLD
Although we live in the Baltimore/DC area, we are west enough to be in a farming community on a wooded lot where we are visited by deer, foxes, and raccoons. My husband is faithful to the birds, feeding them during the winter months to make sure they survive. The variety of birds is more limited in the Winter since many species have flown south, but the population of doves seems to increase. Lucky for us, some remain for the Spring and part way into Summer. This dove did stay for Spring and one morning when looking out across our backyard I noticed her sitting on a tree limb; she looked as though she too was enjoying the quiet morning and the dapples of sun that had begun to sprinkle into the wooded area. A Time of Peace is intended to recapture the serenity I felt that morning looking out on the dove.
For those of you who follow my posts regularly, you may recall I recently mentioned learning a watercolor technique where you pour the paint. In that post I said I wanted to try this approach with acrylics as well. This painting was my first journey down that path.
I use fluid acrylic paint, which means the paint is thinned with water until it flows like watercolor. However, one major difference is that acrylics dry quickly and, once dry, are essentially permanent. They cannot be lifted off the paper as you can do with watercolors. In order to achieve the soft, nearly pastel look to this painting, I needed to use very dilute acrylic in each layer to keep the paint from getting thick and opaque. Using a light touch also allowed me to add layers of paint to change the hue in an area if I was not satisfied with an earlier pouring. I actually found I could accomplish pretty much the same result with the fluid acrylic as with the watercolor paint.
I use fluid acrylic paint, which means the paint is thinned with water until it flows like watercolor. However, one major difference is that acrylics dry quickly and, once dry, are essentially permanent. They cannot be lifted off the paper as you can do with watercolors. In order to achieve the soft, nearly pastel look to this painting, I needed to use very dilute acrylic in each layer to keep the paint from getting thick and opaque. Using a light touch also allowed me to add layers of paint to change the hue in an area if I was not satisfied with an earlier pouring. I actually found I could accomplish pretty much the same result with the fluid acrylic as with the watercolor paint.
I have also learned that I very much like using a pipette to spread the paint around the paper since it is easier to control how much paint I apply. When truly pouring from a container, I have occasionally gotten too much paint and then it can be difficult to remove the excess quickly enough, especially with acrylic. I'm sure I'll continue to use pouring (or maybe I should say "pipetting") in my acrylic paintings since I like the random colors in the washes and the extra glow that I can achieve.
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April, thanks for sharing this and for explaining your process. You achieved a wonderful effect in this painting. I agree with you on the use of the pipette vs. pouring. You apparently were able to use frisket to save each layer. I thought that perhaps acrylics would interfere with the removal of the frisket. Seems the key is to keep each layer of acrylic the consistency of watercolor. Your painting sure does have a glow to it.
ReplyDeleteI've used frisket with fluid acrylic for a long time. I do think keeping the psinf thin is critical. I remember worrying about ghis the first few times i used frisket with acrylic, but haven't ever had trouble.
DeleteThanks for replying and clarifying that. I didn't think using frisket with acrylic would work. I would agree that heavier paint probably would present problems. Thanks to you, I've learned something new!
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