It’s nice to meet you, acrylics!

Judgement is inherent in critique.

Personal opinions, bias, and power dynamics cloud any ability to be constructive in the world of traditional academic and artistic critique. They prevent the development of unique opinions formed by one’s own experiences.

As I develop my own artistic direction and desires, I’m finding I have unfounded opinions on mediums, subject matter, and process. Opinions I didn’t develop from my own experiences, but opinions I was taught to have.

I haven’t given acrylic a fair shot... until now. For the past few weeks, I've been working on a series called The Way We Were. It’s a series about a simpler time—a more comfortable time. A time when everything seemed okay, even though it never really was.

For this series, I'm exclusively using acrylic paint (Winsor & Newton right now, as it was cost effective and I wasn't sure if I'd love acrylic or not)! I'm using Golden Soft Gel Gloss as a medium and also for my isolation coat mixed with water (yay for Golden's great directions for this on the back of the jar).

I originally wanted to try a shiny acrylic medium, as most of my background has been in oil painting. I wanted a familiar look and feel to oils. However, the soft gel is a bit too soft to mimic oil paint. I figured I would start at one end of the spectrum, having never used acrylic medium before. I also learned that there are 'heavy body acrylics' which I'm planning on trying next. I can't wait to test more paints and mediums to find my perfect combination.

I know some artists don't love medium, as they tend to turn acrylics into transparent colors, almost like watercolor. I happen to LOVE this and am having so much fun with this quality. I literally cannot wait to spend more time trying different ones.

I went with Gamblin Gamvar Satin Varnish, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. I may try mixing the satin varnish with their gloss varnish down the road. The satin is a bit more matte than I expected it to be. I think I might like it to be slightly glossier, without being as reflective as the straight gloss is.

I also realize that the satin varnish kind of negates the glossy medium aesthetic... BUT, as I said, I'm still learning and I'm new to this process.

Would love to hear any product recommendations, tricks, tips, or things you've tried relating to acrylics!

Off to a good start!