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Acrylics Anonymous, Issue #113 -- The Catharsis of Self Expression.
April 01, 2022


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" - just keep scrolling to see it. 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.



In this month’s AA Sealed Section, we are very excited to let you know we are now taking pre-orders for Mark's memoir:

"It's All About The Light"

We hope to be shipping in May!


Click here for more info and to place your pre-order




Emotional Recalibration.

There’s a point after any crisis, when the initial, physical work has been done, that we need to re-calibrate emotionally, and start to deal with what’s happened, on a psychological level.

Self-expression and creativity is great for this. Make sure you give yourself permission to get those feelings out, and kickstart your healing.




Art For Floods - Sale happening 2nd-3rd April.

As you may know our North Coast communities were devastated by floods last month. The Art For Floods project is raising much needed funds to get our communities back on their feet. And amongst over 400 artists and $250,000 worth of work, Mark is donating this painting "Respite" valued at AUD$950.

Proceeds from this sale will go to Givit Australia, a fantastic charity. Please consider signing up as a collector today, and share with your friends. We have the artwork, now we need the buyers!

Click here for more information on this worthy cause.



New YT Short!

We have some new shorts coming on Youtube - "Thoughts From The Easel".

Mark is trying his hand at a bit of spoken word; and putting some of his thoughts, well, poems really, to music and visuals seemed like the logical next step! We hope you like this, the first in this series: "So I Paint".

Click here for our Youtube Short "So I Paint"



Life in 500 Words.

And for some more of the dulcet tones from Mark, check out this article the ABC did on Mark recently for the programme "Life Matters", showcasing everyday "precious" objects that mean something to someone.

Mark gives thanks to his staples.


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 artist Danny, from Ontario, Canada with his painting,"Seaside Castle". Thanks so much for sharing this with us Danny, what a fantastic painting and a bit of a change from your digital work!

Click here for more information on Danny's painting "Seaside Castle"




Our mate Adrian "Ren" Reynolds has come through with an outstanding article all about Oceanic Art. Hope you enjoy!

Check out Adrian's writings here.



Dutch photographer Albert Dross captures the Netherlands in gorgeous, saturated colour. Hope you enjoy these images of his work.

We can all do with more colour for our eyeballs!




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 very own Mark Waller with his painting "Just Another Day At The Beach".

From Mark:

"I spent an hour on the beach with my loopy dog, and the light just caught me. It wasn’t just the light. It was a subdued light, but the colour seemed outrageously vibrant. It was all a bit too much.

I took twenty or thirty pics, and then just sat. Our planet truly is magical.

As a result of that moment, I decided to have an exhibition of it.


The truth is that we often only see the world in very superficial ways, so I'm “obliged” to do that moment some puny justice, and, perhaps create the possibility of that being discovered in most moments.

I washed this turquoise-y colour over the canvas (with the idea that it will show through here and there), and then brushed a layer of heavy gel gloss over it to seal the surface and give it some “tooth”.


I messed in the “grey” areas in the sky and reflections to set up a framework.

I then worked the creamy colour into the appropriate areas, and then the blues into the sky and shallow water.


This part is quite frenetic, until…..the ideas are established, and I can put down the brushes, and come back later, knowing where to move next.


This part’s not super exciting. It's simply me re-establishing all the colour. This time though I'm using a pile of Atelier Interactive because I know I'm going to be doing plenty of blending.


Since the surgery I seem to have issues with getting horizons level. This time though …… It's still crooked :D

I’ve tidied up the waves and levelled the horizon, so now its a matter of defining the waves and reflections, before eventually putting some nuance in the wet sand.


I've left most of the paler colours till the end. They’re the tidying up, and the full stop for this piece. I've mixed a combination of the sky colours direct above the reflections, added some white and shaped the waves and their troughs.

I used white with a hint of the blue/greyish colour to define the whitewash and work the suds in behind the waves.


At this point I took some of the sky colours and re-established the reflections in the wet sand, and strengthened a few areas of sky. I did this over the suds, both to soften them and to suggest some of that lovely light on the flatter areas of the water.

I'm happy for this piece to be a little softer and less defined in areas as it represents nicely, the light and atmosphere of the original scene.

A final sweep to strengthen the whitewash and suds, and we’re done.

Superficially a simple image but, no less nuanced and satisfying to paint.

Hope you enjoyed.😀

Thanks so much for sharing your process Mark. Make sure you're following Mark's socials for all the good stuff.

Click here for his Instagram

Click here for his Facebook

And click here for his Website!




We 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 stay safe and well, and don't forget to chuck some paint around!

Cheers from Frankie & Mark :)


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