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Acrylics Anonymous, Issue #130 -- 100% Created by Humans for Humans. July 01, 2024 |
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.
Click here to increase your learning!
Winning! There’s a lot of things pulling for our attention at the moment - and not all of it is great. There’s never been a better time to go back to basics - get out into nature and really look. It’s good for the soul. And even better if you bring that inspiration back to your studio! Win win. 
Not Nice News For Artists on Meta Platforms :( If you have an account with Meta (either an Instagram or Facebook account), chances are you know about the new rules which have just been introduced. From the 26th June 2024, Meta is now able to access information you have posted on these platforms (not including private messages) to train its AI bots. They will be going back as far as 2007 to scrape this information, including photos and videos. IE YOUR ORIGINAL ARTWORK. And if you're in a country without a data protection agreement (like Australia or the US), AND you're an artist, this is pretty concerning news regarding your privacy and copyright rights. With this in mind, we have decided to join Cara, the portfolio and social media platform set up for the entertainment and arts industry which is currently in beta and experiencing a huge surge of growth due to the new Meta rules. Cara does not train any AI models on its user data, and founder Jingna Zhang has always advocated for artists' copyright, and does not support unethical Gen AI practices. Artists do not give up their copyright when sharing work online. Copyright protects individuals from those that try to profit off our work without consent. At the heart of it Jingna just wants people to respect copyright and creators. "People don't want their things to be taken against their will - what will it take to see creatives as people who also deserve respect and protection for what we make, and call ours?" Personally, we have also taken the steps of deleting any completed images of Mark's paintings from Facebook and Instagram, and in future won't be posting any finished images of his
paintings on these platforms. We wish you all the best in your own creative journeys!
Workshop News! Upcoming workshops are planned! Woolgoolga August 2024 (sold out). Fiji October 2024 (still spots left). We are in the planning stages for workshop in Canberra ACT in September, and Stanthorpe QLD in November. *Whisper whisper* We are coming to Tassie in October 2025! More on this to come. Click here for all the latest workshop info. New on our Youtube channel Since our last AA we have released more short "Thoughts from the Easel" videos on Youtube. Here's the links in case you haven't seen them already! Click here for the short video "Curiosity" Click here for the short "Salt". Click here for the short "The Canvas" **Meet The Wallers**
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 Larry, from Sunrise, Florida with his painting "Caloosahatchee River Ft Myer Florida". Thanks so much for sharing this with us Larry - such a great painting that really puts the viewer right in it! Click here for more info on Larry's painting "Caloosahatchee River Ft Myer Florida"
Jonathan Prince is an artist based in Massachusetts, who’s sculptural practice is characterized by a profound exploration of material and form, where the tension between precision and imperfection mirrors the dualities inherent in life. His works, often monumental in scale, are not only visually striking but also imbued with a sense of inquiry and introspection, inviting viewers to reflect on the complex interplay between vulnerability and strength, chaos and beauty. Check out his work on his website here. Or through this incredible video on his instagram here of the “Liquid State” pieces refracting light. You may have heard of Simon Berger, a contemporary glass artist exploring the materials that he hammers, cracks and shatters to create his unique portraits. Check out his incredible work via Instagram here. 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 once again, from our own comedy masterchef, Mark Waller :) From Mark: "Dunsborough Foreshore" It’s always a joy to do work for previous customers, particularly when the image is so compelling. One of our friends from WA wanted this picture of his part of the world, and this is based on the Dunsborough foreshore. He was quite open about what he wanted, but did like the idea of a still day, and the sun going down over the water. Lots of wiggle room.
I roughed in an image to get a sense of the lie of the land. The original photo that he sent me had very little “activity” in the sky. I trawled through my photos to find something that would work, and scrubbed it in.
I zipped it to him for his input. Good to go. A couple of hefty coats of Impasto Gel at this stage to lock everything in works well as well as giving the canvas some build and weight, and adding more luminous layers.
I wasn’t completely sold on the sky I had chosen, and found another one that seemed to fit the picture better. I quite liked the drama of the clouds echoing the shape of the land in some small way. I brushed in some of the detail in the trees in the darks, to get a sense of where everything was, and blocked in the reflections, clouds and sand. Because the light was low, there were long shadows in the shell grit on the beach. I wanted to replicate that. So at this point I put the canvas on the ground, on it’s edge, to flick combinations of Burnt Umber, Dioxazine Purple, Permanent Alizarine and White to splatter and create that coarse sand and the shadows drawing out from it.
Once that was dry, I began to establish the piles of seaweed and some highlights on either side. All still building information incrementally. I went to the sky and finished all the detail in it, obviously at this time of day the light absolutely has to relate directly to the sky. It was important to get that locked down. Time for another coat of Impasto Gel. I moved into the trees again, establishing the edges against the sky. And while I had that colour, started to place some detail into the water. Because I’m a little shambolic in my process sometimes, I was pulled towards painting the shadows behind the piles of seaweed. What a great opportunity to push a lovely purpley-blue colour into the picture. I exaggerated it initially, knowing that I would be working over it a few more times. It was time to make a serious effort on the water (which I had been putting off). I worked down and left the last wave in the bottom right hand
corner in favour of running away to the sand for a while - those seaweed piles kept calling me. I dragged the edge of a brush strategically with Burnt Umber and Dioxazine Purple to create the scraggly shadows on the back of the seaweed, and struck the canvas here and there to intensify some of the small stones on the beach.
I then mixed Cadmium Yellow Medium, a tiny bit of Alizarine and White and created some yellowy orange highlights on the front edges of the seaweed, and then mixed a blue-grey-green to add a little more interest into the shadows.
It was time to get into the detail under the tree, and pay more attention to where everything was placed in that area. That all went pretty well (surprisingly!) and I went back to those last little waves in the bottom corner. The client wanted some light showing through the faces of the little wavelets, so this because the focus. When that was done, I tidied up the bottom right corner by reflecting the sky and tidying up the ripples. A couple of coats of Universal Medium and Varnish, the edges tidied up, and off it goes to its new home.
You can find all of Mark's good stuff through the bio link below: Mark's links all in one place! 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 :) 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.
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