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Start Art 5 58 RT START www.painters-online.co.uk ✎ T I P To avoid the colours drying during the painting session, keep them on a stay-wet palette, and spray them from time to time with water Soraya French shows how to paint a simple still life in acrylics, watercolour style Still lifewith SUNFLOWERS T he versatility of acrylic colours makes them an ideal and indeed the most logical choice of medium for beginners. Acrylic can be thinned down and used in watercolour techniques, or in thicker applications similar to oil painting. It also has some unique characteristics of its own. You can paint with acrylic on a variety of surfaces, the only two to avoid being greasy or oil-based surfaces, or a shiny surface, as acrylic paint will peel off both at a later stage. To use acrylics watercolour-style the best surface to use is a good-quality watercolour paper. Acrylics come in a range of opaque and transparent colours and it is useful to get to know this quality in your paints before you start working with them, especially when painting watercolour-style. Although you can find this information on the tubes, the following simple exercise will also help. Apply an inch thick stripe of each colour on the paper and let it dry, then paint an inch thick stripe of each colour across the top. Transparent colours will let the layer underneath show through and the opaque ones will cover them. Make a note of these to refer to. The colours may look quite bright when squeezed from the tube, but it is possible to make the most subtle tones by mixing them. In this exercise I am using diluted Daler-Rowney System 3 acrylic colours to paint a still life, using a variety of watercolour techniques such as wet-into- wet and wet-on-dry. System 3 colours have a runny consistency and are known as ‘soft body’ colours so they lend themselves to watercolour techniques. System 3 brushes are rather soft so they can be used for washes of colour, or you can use your normal watercolour brushes; however, be vigilant about cleaning them afterwards. For thicker colours you will definitely require stiffer acrylic brushes. The beauty of using acrylics to paint in a watercolour style is that a wash of acrylic colour turns into a plastic film once dry, therefore subsequent washes of colour do not disturb the one underneath. This helps the colours to stay fresh and vibrant . STAY-WET PALETTES Daler-Rowney manufactures two sizes of stay-wet palette which comprises a box with a lid and a pack of membrane and tissue paper. Lay the membrane paper at the bottom and wet the surface, pour out excess water, lay the tissue paper over the top and repeat the same process. The surface should be left damp, not soaking wet, for successful colour mixing. At the end of the painting session, put the lid back on and keep the box in a cool area. Alternatively, make a home-made stay- wet palette from a shallow dish or box with a damp layer of kitchen towel covered with a damp sheet of greaseproof paper. At the end of the session either cover with clingfilm or put the lid back on, if it has one You will need… Daler-Rowney System 3 acrylic colours: Lemon yellow Cadmium yellow Titanium white Ultramarine blue Prussian blue Process cyan Burnt sienna Brushes: Wash brush sky flow Round brush size 8 Support Daler-Rowney Langton 300gsm (1401b), 16 20in. (40.5 51cm) Stay-wet palette Watercolour-style palette for making watercolour washes