Painting With Acrylics: Some Helpful Tips For Painting In Our Classes Or At Home!
We LOVE helping people get in touch with their inner-artists, whether they’re first time painters or ones who have been making art their whole lives. No matter your skill level, Pinot’s Palette makes a great pace to spend time, painting and sipping wine, listening to some good music, and reconnecting with loved ones. Our artists will always teach you something about painting that you never knew if you’re new to the classes and are still in the beginning stages of learning to paint with acrylics. Even at the end of your first class, you’ll leave, knowing more about painting than you came in with and each time you return, your vocabulary and knowledge of techniques will expand. We have some regulars who have attended dozens of classes and it’s incredible to see how well they can paint now! Many of them have even bought their own supplies and begun to paint at home in between classes!
We’d like to offer a few tips for painting with acrylics to help you out when you come in for your next class or if you’re trying out some artistic efforts at home. Once you attend a few classes, you’ll likely hear about all of these helpful hints! Just taking one class, you’re sure to learn a myriad of ways to use acrylic paints as you work with them during the 2-3 hour session. These paints are one of the easiest types to use as they’re inexpensive, come in a large variety of colors, dry quickly, and can be manipulated in several ways to help you create the look you want.
Here are a few tips for you to try:
*STORING YOUR PAINT
Acrylics are plastic-based and so they dry up really quickly. Ensure that your bottle of precious paint (at home) is stored with the lid tightened, and any colors you’ve mixed and wish to try and salvage for another day, should hold up in some airtight containers or a covered palette.
*Ways to keep acrylics from drying out on your palette: http://empty...your-palette/
*Airtight palette: https://www....aAqRaEALw_wcB
*USING WATER
Water is your friend when it comes to manipulating acrylic paints in various, helpful ways.
-A “wash” is when you water down paint to make it thinner more like a watercolor effect. You can also layer color over one another with this technique and get a whole new shade!
-If you water your paint down enough, acrylic acts a bit like watercolor! You can use the diluted paint to apply translucent washes on your surface. But unlike watercolor, the acrylic paint will set permanently. Try mixing the wash and dry brush method, where you just apply the paint, without water — you'll end up with plenty of textures in a single piece.
-If you’re trying to make your paints last longer, then water is a great way to do so. Whether you want to get as much out of your bottle of paint as possible or you need your custom-mixed color to go a little father without having to re-mix it, water will get you there. As you add the color to your canvas, straight from the bottle or pile of mixed paint, you can dip your bristles into the water and apply it directly to the canvas in the area that you’re painting so it re-wets the paint and makes it thinned out and last longer, covering a larger section!
-Always keep water on hand, as acrylics dry out quickly, not only on your palette but in your brush. Clean your brush in between colors or just keep the paint-filled brushes in the water until you’re ready to clean it for the day.
-Remember that acrylics DO dry up, quickly, the longer they’re exposed to the air. You can re-moisturize your pile of paint by adding a few drops of water to it and stirring it around to loosen the paint.
*CREATING TEXTURE
It’s important to add some form of texture into your paintings, and it’s also super fun to do! There are a few basic, beginner techniques that you can try in the studio or at home to take your painting up a notch and make it look like you really know your stuff (even if you have no idea…) :)
1-Stippling
Using a stiff brush, tap the tips of the bristles into the paint you want and then apply it to the canvas in a “tap, tap, tapping” (like a stamp) motion. The lighter you tap, the more individualized and spread out your texture will be, whereas the harder you tap, the more blotched and blurred together the “dots" will be.
**(Best use: For leaves on trees or in a beach landscape where the waves crash (white foam) or the sand’s texture )
2-Drips
Watered-down paint works best for this technique but there are a few ways to get this super fun, easy, and creative look:
-Water dow some paint and touch it to the canvas…. Watch it drip down! (The more water you add, the more it will fall)
-Wet your entire canvas, then apply some watered-down paint to it and let it slide down, fast!
**(Best use: to make a painting look “wet” like in a rain scene)
3-Splattering
Load up a brush with some paint and have fun flinging, flicking, or shaking it around to get the desired effect. A toothbrush works well for this technique, too!
**(Best use: to make thousands of tiny stars in a sky or galaxy)
4-Fluffing
This one is talked about, more in depth when we discuss the cloud making technique, later.
**(Best use: for clouds or smoke)
*DIY CLOUDS
Grab a brush (the stiffer, the better), and some white, grey, or off-white (cream) paint and get to work! You can make some clouds that will look super professional and take your sky to a whole other level!
Clouds look most natural when they’re all different shapes: some small and others larger. Give them a flat bottom, thinned edges, and round and puffy tops.
Tap a little paint onto the canvas in the shape you want, then use your fingertip to thin it out and soften it up, going around in a circular motions.
Once you get your cloud base onto the sky, add in touches of any additional colors you want, based on your sky’s personality!
*CLEAN UP
Sure, painting is fun, but can come with quite the mess at the end of your masterpiece! When you attend a class in our studio, we’ll provide you with an apron to keep your clothing clean. You also don’t have to worry about being too tidy or careful at our place because we’re dedicated to painting classes and the messes that come along with them, everyday!
Acrylic paint, although beneficial in many of ways, is one of the trickiest substances to clean off of clothing, furniture, and rugs.
We’ll handle the clean up at the end of your session, but what about when you paint at home?
*Here's a great way to remove acrylic paints from your clothing, and this tried and true method works a lot of the time:
https://www....intingandwine
Have fun trying out some of these techniques at home or the next time you’re in class! Remember that ti’s ok to make mistakes, as that means your trying and you might surprise yourself with what your discover while painting. Experiment with different things, watch YouTube videos, read helpful hints, online, and be sure to ask your instructor questions the next time you come in! Our helpful and kind staff will assist you with anything you need, from he moment you walk in to the time you leave. We’ll show you to your seats, recommend some wine for you, refill your glasses, grab you some more paint when you need it, and even take some pics of you and your group so you can always remember the fun time you had!
We hope to see you soon for a class at our studio if you’re looking for something fun to do in or around the Orange County area! We’re a great spot to visit for everything from a fun and unique date night, an awesome girls’ night out experience, and we even offer private events! When you view our classes on our website, you’ll be viewing our schedule for our public classes, but you can also book a painting party with the guest list of your choice! Come in to celebrate a birthday, bridal shower, reunion, retirement, and more with friends and family, sharing their artistic sides, together. Make memories that will last a lifetime with a souvenir to treasure forever with one our classes.
*Learn more about our private parties, here:
https://www....ivate-parties
We also play host to tons of corporate events, too! Why not book your next work party or team building event with us? We offer several styles of paintings that incorporate team building strategies, encouraging the whole office to work together, creating a stunning world of art!
*Read more about corporate events, here:
https://www....porate-events
Finally, if you’re looking for the perfect gift for someone, keep in mind that we sell gift certificates:
https://www....-certificates