Historically, impressionist and expressionist masters used flexible metal blades to apply paint in thick, unmixed ribbons. Because synthetic brushes trap liquid inside their bristles, sweeping heavy body acrylics with a brush flattens the peaks and muddies colors together. Consequently, your paintings lose that striking, sculptural pop. Instead of over-mixing on your palette, applying paint with […]

Historically, landscape masters recognized that water acts as a imperfect mirror. Because liquid absorbs ambient light, reflections are almost always one tone darker than the sky above them and one tone cooler than the land surrounding them. Consequently, painting an exact color copy onto your water line instantly destroys the optical illusion of depth. Instead

Initially, opaque paint blocks light from penetrating beneath the surface. In contrast, transparent glazes act like sheets of colored glass stacked on top of one another. Because daylight travels through each glaze layer, reflects off the bright underpainting, and bounces back to your eye, the final color looks radiant and full of life. 4 Secrets

Historically, oil painters had days to blend their soft clouds and skin tones. Because acrylic paint relies on water evaporation to cure, you often only get a window of 30 to 60 seconds before your wet paint turns tacky. Consequently, trying to drag a dry brush over drying acrylic tears the paint film, creating an