Paints?

[Donal]

Does anyone do any sketchcrawling with other paints besides watercolors? I saw some interesting sketches on Mike Dutton's site that were (I think Oils) and I've been thinking of trying out some acrylics on my sketchcrawls to see the results.

[Zoe]

I don't know anyone who does a sketchcrawl with acrylics but I do know many artists who go out come rain or shine and do plein aire. It takes a little more equipment and great enthusiasm to paint in the winter, but an easel, a back-pack and a back makes it work.

[Studio-1-F]

Hi Donal --- You might want to play around with gouache! Water-soluble, so no special solvents and so forth required. Can be thinned into watercolor-like washes, so they are versatile. But with heavy application, they cover like thicker paints, such as acrylics. But gouache dries very quickly, so you can use a sketchbook and close it up without the pages sticking closed!

-- Here is "Virtual Gouache Land", Tiemen's site: http://virtualgouacheland.blogspot.com/
-- "What is gouache?" --> http://www.productionpost.com/gouache-article-1.htm
-- Here's Ralph Parker's site. He does wonderful gouache landscapes: http://www.boundlessgallery.com/artist/5773.art
-- And Nancy Farmer's site, with some step-by-step demos: http://www.nancyfarmer.net/info_materials.html

Might be fun, eh?

Jan

[littleweaver]

I've done sketchbook work with acrylics, and, really, they are a lot like watercolors, from my experience. You can thin them down with water and have them act very similar to watercolors, or you can keep them thick and have them look like oils, and they dry tons faster. I used a cheapy sketchbook when I did it with only light weight paper in it, so I would suggest a heavy paper, but it was a fun and interesting experience, especially since I primarily use watercolor, pen and ink, or just pencil when I am out sketching.