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Acrylics Anonymous, Issue #052 -- Communicate and Resonate August 01, 2016 |
Passionate about painting with acrylics? Need a monthly fix chock full of inspiration? Need some help to take the pain out of your painting process? It's all here for you. Acrylics Anonymous. Zero elitism. Dive in. If you enjoy Acrylics Anonymous, and you know someone who might also enjoy it, you can share by forwarding it to your friends! If you are receiving this because a friend has forwarded this to you, and you would like to subscribe, click here! 
Every month, we will produce a Subscribers Only "sealed section". It could be a painting technique, a short video tip, or anything we can think of that we reckon you might enjoy. Please let us know what you think, we love your feedback! To leave comments, click here.
What Do You Want To Say? It’s worth taking time before you start your painting, to think about what it is about that image you want to communicate. Is it about the water? The light? Write down some ways you could approach your painting that could enhance the story. Eg what brush techniques or colours can you utilise to create a calm misty morning. 
Create Unique Paintings. Get your original "voice" out there! 7 tips to create unique paintings and tell a compelling story in your own voice. Click here to read on. Mark - on Instagram! Finally the social media department at Explore HQ have hooked Mark up to hashtag land. Go follow him @markwallerpaints to see some great behind the scenes pics and works in progress. If you’re not on Insta he’s also on Twitter @markwallerpaint Click here to check out Mark's Insta. The Struggling Artist Is Ba-a-ack Dickie Millott, our man in the South is back with a new installment of struggles and giggles this month. Click here to read on. 
Every month, we choose an Artist from our
forum
to showcase. You can even nominate someone if you like. (Or yourself!). To do this, check out the forum and then send us an email! It’s that easy. This month we’re focussed on artist Pamela from Akron, USA, with her painting, “Chocolate Lab Memorial Portrait”. This painting is a wonderful example of communicating a story through a painting. You can really feel the emotion through this piece. Great job Pamela! read more about Pamela’s “Chocolate Lab Memorial Portrait”
Join in they say. Be part of the film they say. Art is the silver boot that crushes all conformity they say. This is a documentary film brought to you by a couple of misfits determined to unearth what it is that drives an artist. Pre-order your copy of the film now :) Click here for an awesome film. An incredible project - in the Polish city of Gdańsk over 50 artists at a time are producing pictures in the style of Vincent van Gogh. Their oil paintings are part of the feature film "Loving Vincent", about the Dutch painter's life and work. Click here to check out this absolutely fantastic animated film trailer. If you have a link you like, please share it with us! You can contact us to let us know. Thank you! 
This is the section where you can "get your name in lights!" (well at least out there in the internet world!).If you have works in progress you would love to show off, or finished pieces you are particularly proud of, we would love to see them! We especially like to hear about the story behind the creation. This month’s work comes from the wonderfully talented Mia Briggs, participant in Mark’s regular class and friend of the Lennox Arts Collective From Mia: I started this portrait of a family friend Yone, a student from Madrid Spain who came to stay with my family for aproximatley 1 year. We were sitting on my deck having a wine and talking about the future, as we were both at a crossroads to what and where we were going in our individual lives, when she said to me; “do whatever it is that makes you happy”. I had at the time enrolled in a Cert 3 Tafe Course and was quite daunted about starting Art when I had not drawn or painted since I was 15 and here I was turning 50 at the time. Sitting outside one Summer’s night I did a little sketch of her to see what my drawing skills were like, I’m not sure why I even continued if you had seen what was on that paper! Four years down the track I decided to try my hand at painting a portrait as I have never painted a person before. I struggled from the beginning with this painting not really knowing how to approach it but knowing the end result I wanted to achieve. So I just put some colour on the white paper so it did not look so daunting, then I roughly sketched her in, getting the overall shape and composition. The painting has undergone that many transitions, from looking like a bad spray tan, to looking like she was on a massive dose of steroids, to looking like she was from another planet. I’m not a good colourist and I always seem to make my mistakes on the canvas I am working on, then I am faced with the dilemma of how to fix it, walk away now or never give up and keep going!! Once I had her eye correct then the rest of the painting seemed to fall into place. Working with acrylic is a challenge in Summer as it dries so fast, so I had to add a medium, this meant I had to wait 20-30 min between layers. This is the end result 4 years after that conversation and about 8-10 layers of paint later :-) If I had to say how long it took me, all up probably 2 weeks. Hope you like it, she loved it and it is going over to Madrid at the end of the year as a gift to say thank you, I am doing what I love now. Thanks so much Mia for sharing such a wonderfully intimate journey with us. You can check more of Mia’s art out on instagram @miabriggs
Hope you enjoyed this issue of Acrylics Anonymous! If you have any suggestions, comments or feedback for the ezine or our site, please don't hesitate to contact us. Until next time, make sure you chuck some paint around! Cheers from Frankie & Mark :) |
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