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Acrylics Anonymous, Issue #081 -- Island Time.
April 01, 2019


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, contact us here.



Tropical Realism

Exclusive to you - Mark goes back to Island Time with this one as he shows you how to create realism in your tropical water paintings. Dig in!




View the video clip here.







Colour. Theoretically.

On a bright sunny day and underwater, reds diminish as they recede into the distance.

This process happens on land as well - reds diminish in the distance as there is more "blue air" between you and the object. The further away = the bluer :)







Quick Tips With Mark


Have you seen our latest weekly segment on Youtube? Go get some!

Click here for your first installment!



The Struggling Artist Is Back!

Dick Millott is BA-ACK! With his irreverent mix of humour and angst, and some advice for us mere mortals on dealing with the future of the arts in the 21st century.

Click here for Dickie's latest article.



Victorian Workshop May 2019

A Beachscape Recipe is our new workshop coming to Victoria in mid-May 2019!

Click here for all the info.


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 featuring Nicolene from Cape Town, South Africa, with her work titled "The Mermaid's Table". Those reflections! That composition! Beautiful work Nicolene :)

Click here to read more about Nicolene's "The Mermaid's Table"




Adrien M and Claire B is the company behind this amazing digital animism which blurs the line between virtual and reality.

Visually arresting, their aptly named body of work "Mirages and Miracles" is available to view on their website now.

Watch the video and be amazed.



I don’t know how I’ve missed this guy up until now, but if you want to improve your drawing skills, go check out Marcello Barenghi who is an absolutely fantastic realist artist.

For around $10 a month you can access his 20+ tutorials on Patreon plus one each month. I’m seriously so tempted!!!.

Check out Marcello today!




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 submission comes from our own Mr Mark Waller.

From Mark:

Every time I come back from the Solomon Islands, I feel as though my paintings are way too dull - and that they need a lot more colour. I surfed this lovely point break as it got dark - ,perfect waves, tropical backdrop and sunset.



It was one of those moments that stays with you for a long time. As with surf trips, no one actually wants to take photos because everyone wants to surf. (There were only two of us, and I wasn’t volunteering!). This painting had to be done as a loose conglomeration of memories.



I find with a painting like this, particularly when you have no real references to rely on other than memory, the “quick fire” rough in approach followed by the incredibly structured and disciplined approach of, "continuing to throw paint at it until it looks right”, works.



After the roughing in is done, there is no real process. Just some understanding of what happens when light hits water at different times of day, and an occasional smile as you come face to face with the memory of sore arms, spray coming off the back of the waves sparkling in the light, and the stupid grin that comes with having experienced one of those lovely rare moments.





This is a small painting, but laden with so many memories, textures, smells and all the feels. I’m working with Atelier Free Flow on watercolour paper. I’ve sealed the watercolour paper with a couple of coats of impasto gel, and the Free Flow sits nicely on the impasto gel, and covers beautifully. And most importantly, dries quickly.

It really lends itself to this “fast”, relatively unstructured approach to painting. Just beautiful.



Thanks so much for sharing your journey Mark. Hope you guys enjoyed watching the evolution of this one. For more of Mark's work, make sure you're following him on insta @markwallerpaints.






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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