This weekend's Acrylic Painting 101...

by Karen Lynn Ingalls

Tubes of paint waiting to be chosen • photo © Karen Lynn Ingalls

My thanks to my students who came for this last weekend's Acrylic Painting 101 workshop at the Calistoga Art Center! They were delightful. And it is my idea of fun to spend a weekend sharing the joys of painting with acrylics, to start with. 

Painting and technique examples, and a color wheel • paintings and photo © Karen Lynn Ingalls

I didn't take any photos during the workshop, but these photos will give you a little idea of some of what we did, from working with colors and color mixing, to trying all kinds of ways of applying paint to a surface, to abstract painting, to the painting of a simple still life.

Demonstration painting of a simple still life, with its model • 8" x 10" • Acrylics on canvas • © Karen Lynn Ingalls

Here's the demonstration painting I did during the workshop, from a little apple. We had such lovely and cooperative models! (Apples and pears.) We wound up only spending a little time on creating watercolor-like effects with acrylics, since everyone wanted to spend more time on their still life paintings (on which, by the way, they did a great job). 

That was a good lesson for me... I always want to pack a lot into the time, maybe more than there is really time to take in. I knew that a second day would allow people to process what they'd been learning more thoroughly, and apply it, and it worked well. The next time I teach this, I'll keep the final watercolor-like technique as an option. I learned that it may not be an option my students need or want to take.