| Back to Back Issues Page |
 |
|
Acrylics Anonymous, Issue #137 -- Rockin' Around. December 01, 2025 |
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.
Let's Get Curious Curiosity is the key to being a good painter. But -- it’s also the key to living an interesting and fun life. When you’re curious, fear doesn’t exist. And when you’re observing something with curiosity, more information seems to magically appear! 
News and more news! You may have noticed if you are on our other mailing lists that we are sending more regular emails. If you want to be first in line for workshop news, painting studies, book news and more, make sure you sign up here!
August 8-15th 2026 Discovery, Inspiration and Technique Join Mark in Savusavu, Fiji with Paradise Courses! Early Bird Special Now On! EARLY BIRD SPECIAL - if booked and paid by Feb 8 2026: REAR BURE Standard room - Twin Share AU $2780 Early bird: $1800 REAR BURE Standard room, Single AU $3250 Travelling with a non painting partner, sharing a rear bure: AU$1730 for your partner ($2780 for you) FRONT BURE: Twin Share Room , AU $3200 FRONT BURE: Single Room , AU $3650 Travelling with a non painting partner, sharing an ocean view bure: AU$2040 for your partner ($3200 for you) New on Youtube We have a new tutorial you may not have seen, check it out below. Watch "The 6 Reasons Your Paintings Don't Look Real" here Guys! Quick PSA re: Apple devices! Did you know that if you use your iOS device (iPhone, iPad) to purchase a subscription through ANY app, you are likely paying the "Apple tax” on top of your subscription cost? Youtube recently told us that fans can join our channel using their iOS devices, (where previously you could only join through a web browser on a computer or laptop). HOWEVER…… If you sign up using an app (like Youtube for example), you will be charged a percentage ON TOP of what your subscription is. To avoid this, you need to open up the programme using a web browser (you can still use your phone, but open up Youtube using Chrome or Safari etc), navigate to the channel you want to join (type that name into the YouTube search bar), and hit the “join” button from there. Sneaky Apple don’t really disclose that this is a thing - it just looks like that is how much the creator is
charging you per month! PS If you join our Youtube channel as a member you get loads of perks for the cost of a coffee every month, and we so appreciate your support :D 
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 Millie, from Honolulu, Hawaii with their painting "A Recent Painting". Thanks so much for sharing your painting with us Millie - you have captured such a glorious luminosity in the flower :) Click here for more information on Millie's painting "A Recent Painting"
Sydney Swisher creates evocative artworks (oil on fabric and embellishments) using a mixture of old and new school that creates an interesting contrast between nostalgia and reality. Her work explores the intersections of memory, materiality, and machine intelligence, as well as the continuous re-writing and quiet unease of generated images reinterpreting our collective memory. Check out her artwork here. Guys, I just came across Jane Chipp’s incredible mixed media artwork, and if you like to get a bit crafty like I do, here’s a reel on her instagram showing how to make washi tape easily with what you already have at home. This will work for all sorts of collage bits and pieces too! 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 again from our valiant visionary, Mark! From Mark: "During our recent Tassie trip, we did a day at the Bay of Fires. Of course the colour of the rocks is fantastic, but I as always was drawn to the water and waves. It was quite a windy day, and I loved the way the spray was being blown into the air, and the suds pushed around the rocks. Oh no, another wave/rock painting!
I decided to paint this on ply, because I wanted the marks of the brush to stand out, more than the texture of the surface. I prepared the ply by attaching a small frame to the back of it, so that the picture would sit proud of the wall. I then coated the surface with three coats of Atelier Binder Medium to lock in any impurities that may come of the timber and discolour the surface. I painted the surface black, and painted a coat of Atelier Heavy Gel Gloss (impasto gel) over that. From there I mixed up the predominant blue colour for the water, added a little bit of white to suggest suds and whitewash, and mixed some Burnt Umber, Dioxazine Purple and a tiny bit of Cadmium Yellow Medium to rough in the rocks. I added some Burnt Umber, French Ultramarine Blue and White to suggest volume in the rocks.
From there I mixed French Ultramarine Blue, and tiny bit of Cadmium Yellow Light and White and roughed in the suds shadows. It was late in the afternoon, and I wanted a tiny bit of the gold that was reflected off everything at that time of day to "yellow-ify" the whitewash. I mixed up some sky reflection colour using Dioxazine Purple, Pthalo Blue and White, and created the illusion of wavelets in the background. I then mixed some neat White with a tiny bit of Cadmium Yellow Medium, and with a fan brush, ran around the edges of the rocks creating the impression of spray and whitewash bouncing up.
I added a little bit of Pthalo Blue to that colour, and painted it on the frontside of the wave amongst the rocks to create the impression of aerated water. I added some French Ultramarine Blue to that and painted the shadows in the whitewash to create the impression of it being backlit. With a dry brush, I made the whitewash look “grainy” to suggest all those little droplets being blown around, and pushed some shadows into the front of the whitewash using Pthalo Blue, Burnt Umber and French Ultramarine Blue and White.
From there I mixed Forest Green and Cadmium Yellow Medium, and worked over the surface in front of and between the rocks to create the impression of weed just under the surface. I re-established the sky reflecting on the surface of the water, and then with Free Flow, Titanium White and a hint of Cadmium Yellow Medium; and a fan brush, created the turbulent suds around the rocks that were being hit by the light. I mixed French Ultramarine Blue and White, and painted in those same suds in the shaded areas. This is a lovely way of creating shadows in whitewash. Largely, the painting from this point on was to-ing and fro-ing with that process.
I came back finally and put some highlights on the rocks to suggest that the sun was hitting them, leaving the rock behind the exploding water bare of highlights to create the impression that it was in shadow; then reflected some blue on the rocks that were in shadow, to give my shadows some depth. The last part of the picture entailed me using White and a tiny bit of Cadmium Yellow Light to run rivulets of water down the rocks to suggest water running off them, and repeating that process with French Ultramarine Blue and White to also create the illusion of shaded areas. The rest of this painting was tweaking that process, gradually adding little touches of light and shadow here and there.
Not a particularly complicated image to look at, but definitely a fun and challenging one to play with. And, it looks good on the wall."
Guys - we will be away for the month of January (and a little bit of February too) :) So our next AA won't go out until the 1st March 2026! Until next time, make sure you stay safe and well, and don't forget to chuck some paint around! Cheers from Frankie & Mark :) For our Youtube channel, click here. To join our Youtube channel as a member for a few bucks every month (in exchange for even MORE awesome perks, click here. For our Instagram, click here. For our Threads, Click here. For our Website, click here. For our Facebook page, click here. For our Pinterest, click here. For our Tik Tok, click here. |
| Back to Back Issues Page |
