How important is it to get the colors right when painting acrylic glazes?

home

How important is it to get the colors right when painting acrylic glazes?

by Gregory

I read all the articles on Photorealism on your site and they are excellent!! I have a question concerning the underpainting. How important is it to get the colors right? Because you use the acrylics like glazes it seems to me that they are all translucent, so the colors underneath will always show up.

If you make a mistake in the underpainting, because a certain color is way off, will you be able to correct it in the other stages?

Hi Gregory,

Thanks so much for your message! I am so glad that the Photorealism pages on my website have been helpful and useful to you.

Your observation about the translucency of the glazes is quite astute. The colors underneath will show up, but they can (and will) be altered by whatever you place on top. Therefore, if you paint a color that really isn't right, you do have the chance to rectify it further down the line.

So you don't really need to worry about painting the wrong color. If you find that you did paint the totally wrong color (for instance, accidentally painted red where there should be blue), you can always paint over the red area with white paint to neutralize it, and then go back in with the right color.

I hope that helps! Feel free to let me me know if you have any more questions.

Best of luck with your photorealistic paintings!!

Thaneeya

dots

Comments for
How important is it to get the colors right when painting acrylic glazes?

Average Rating

Click here to add your own comments

Jul 13, 2011
Rating

sealer disaster!
by: Lynne

I was given a tip to use boiled linseed oil to seal an acrylic painting. VERY successful and I love the way the colours "pop out".
However. I sealed an acrylic painting I absolutely loved doing and thrilled with, sealed with linseed oil and wondered why it went patchy. I had completely forgotten I had spray varnished with acrylic varnish!
Now I'm stuck with a patchy finish. Do you have any idea how I can rectify this to get the linseed oil off.
It usually dries rock hard, but after 10 months is still tacky, so there must be something that I can remove it with?? Meths doesn't work and I'm too afraid to try turps as it will remove the paint??

Jul 14, 2011
Rating

Removing Linseed Oil from an Acrylic Painting
by: Thaneeya

Hi Lynne,
That's a tough spot you're in and I don't have any firsthand experience with removing linseed oil from an acrylic painting. I think your best bet is to either consult an art conservator, who would know these types of materials inside and out, or ask on a forum such as this: http://www.amien.org/forums/ where they may be able to give you some solid advice. (As of this posting their forums are down but there is an email address on the home page; perhaps you could write to him and ask.
Best of luck with it!

Click here to add your own comments