Acrylic paints are water-based which allows the artist to mix them in water for thinning purposes.  The artist’s brushes can also be cleaned in water.  Acrylic paints are made from the pigment and mixed with acrylic resin and emulsion.  As the fastest drying paint, they can be used in thin, watery glazes or impasto.  The effect is powerful and instantaneous.

Most artists who opt to paint with acrylics are influenced by the drying time and the fact that the only solvent necessary is water.  The artist will need stiff-bristled brushes for thick acrylic paints and soft-bristled brushes for watercolor type effects.  The brushes come in many diverse shape and sizes and in many different handle lengths.

To learn all the nuances of acrylic painting techniques, try one of the new-age DVD acrylic oil painting courses.  There are several reviewed on the Internet.  The most revered, Learn and Master Painting, is composed of 20 DVDs, a reference book and accompanying CDs.  The DVD instructor is a talented artist and instructor who has helped design the course and has a great gift fro instruction.  She will even have you completing three paintings before the course is finished.

Each DVD represents a class.  Students love this learning tool because there is absolutely no pressure.  You learn at your own pace, in your own studio or home and can re-visit material whenever you need a refresher.  The reference book is a handy tool, filled with a review of the lessons but also with helpful tips, a handy glossary of painting terms and concepts.

Acrylics require their own, distinct techniques.  Learn why so many artists have converted to acrylic painting.  Save money, learn the right way and learn how to oil paint in the privacy of your home on your own schedule.  That’s the way to do it, enjoy it and remember it.

Until now, I have always been a little too busy to see if Mrs. Warner was right.  Recently, a friend told me about an oil painting course she had come across online.  I checked it out and I am here to report that I am glad I did.

First of all, I want to tell you this is the way to go.  I do not feel any of the hesitancy, pressure or discomfort that I might have endured in a classroom, paying a lot of money for who knows what.  What a great program my friend put me on to.

Learning oil painting is fun, rewarding and downright exciting.  While I still remember Mrs. Warner as the first woman I ever had a crush on, I now remember her as insisting that I had a creative side.  I do!  She was right.

Thanks to this easy-to-understand, easy-to-follow beginner’s oil painting course, I am learning to express myself through painting.  Everything looks so different.  There’s a lot of material out there.  We just need to learn how to give it form, how to use color and how to create space and distance and shape.  I feel blessed, really.

With my learn-at-home course, I received 20 DVDs, a teaching guide and reference book and even three inspirational CDs.  I can refer back to the DVDs whenever I want or I can use the reference guide to get answers to questions.

I can practice my oil painting morning, noon or night, whenever the motivation strikes.  I couldn’t be more comfortable.  I have learned so much.  Now I know how to setup my studio, how to care for my products, how to mix colors and how to build my palette and to care for my work.  It was fun to get setup but the best is yet to come.

I am actually working on my first, full-fledged oil painting right now.  My next one will be better since I have acquired new oil painting tips but I will always remember this one.  I may store it but I will definitely frame it.  I owe that to Mrs. Warner.  Thanks for listening.  I just had to tell someone!

There are three primary colors that cannot be created by mixing other colors.  Those three primaries are red, blue and yellow.  Aren’t they great?  Mixing these primary colors creates other colors called secondary colors.

Yellow and blue make green.  Red and yellow make orange.  Blue and red creates purple.  The exact hue of the secondary color is dependent upon the proportions of the mix of the primary colors.  The best way to become familiar with the seemingly unlimited color and hue possibilities is to experiment.

When the artist mixes three primary colors, the result is a tertiary color.  The hue of the tertiary again depends on the proportions of the mixture.  Have fun creating and learning your options.

Like the primaries, black and white is not created by mixing other colors.  However, they are not primary colors because they are not mixed to form other colors.  Black is added to darken a color and white is added to lighten a color.  Many artists do not use black or white at all.

There are various blues, reds and yellows, like cobalt blue, Prussian blue, lemon yellow, crimson, cadmium red and others.  These are different versions of the primary colors.

The important thing to remember about primary colors is that each primary creates a different result.  Each mix of primaries creates a slightly different shade of a secondary or tertiary color.

Here are a few basic color mixing realities:

• * It takes a small amount of a dark color to darken a light color, but it takes considerably more light to lighten a dark color.
• * Opaque colors have far greater strength than transparent colors so add just a bit of opaque to a transparent.
• * If you are mixing two colors, check to make sure each color consist of one pigment only.
• * When mixing tow colors on your palette, stop the process before completing the color.  The result will be much more interesting, and a bit inconsistent.

Mixing colors, creating new colors, altering shades and strengths can become a compelling exercise.  Many artists are consumed with the composition of color.  Learning how to create the perfect color and shade will greatly influence your oil painting.  Experiment, learn and enjoy the artistic flair that color brings to the palette.

The artist does not have to worry about the order the paints are applied so many artists like the freedom and readiness of acrylics compared to oils.  Because the acrylics dry so quickly, the artist can apply overlay colors more quickly and easier.  This versatility helps to create an immediate scene.

As the acrylics dry so quickly, the beginning artist will have to work rapidly and the artist’s paintbrushes require almost immediate cleaning or they will be unusable.  Brushes are cleaned with water.  Artists that are working outdoors may choose another medium because the acrylics can dry up quickly on the palette.

An interesting technique that artists employ with acrylics is the use of a squeegee.  Put a blob of acrylic paint on your canvas and spread with a rigid edged squeegee.  Acrylics are the perfect medium for this smear and mix technique.  Use one fluid motion for the best results.  Beginning artists especially enjoy this technique.

If you are interested in learning more about acrylic painting, why not try one of the new painting DVD art courses offered on the Internet?  The leading online course provider has recently launched a 20 DVD course that includes lessons in acrylic painting and oil painting. (you can read more in our Learn and Master Painting Review)

Art students can now learn how to work with acrylics in their won home, on their own schedule and at their own pace.  The course is designed by the accomplished artist and teacher while each DVD is professionally produced.  Each DVD represents one lesson and begins with the fundamentals and takes new students through the paces of three new paintings.

A handy reference book accompanies the DVDs.  This guide will serve as a valuable resource for years to come.  This is the way to learn oil painting and acrylic painting techniques.  It is fun, inexpensive and flexible, just like painting with acrylics.  There is no reason to hesitate.  If you have considered painting with acrylics or oil, this new DVD course is the opportunity you have been waiting for.  There’s a little artist in all of us.  Take the course and watch it all come out.