The Acrylic Painter Tools and Techniques for the Most Versatile Medium

A complete course on acrylic painting for beginners and experienced artists that covers classic approaches and new innovations 

Embraced for versatility, quick-drying properties, and non-toxicity, no medium offers a wider range of effects forcreating highly expressive art than acrylics. With its flexibility and ease of use, acrylic paint is a must-try for painters—no matter your skill level.

Here noted artist and School of Visual Arts instructor James Van Patten draws from years of experience to show you how to use acrylics to achieve a variety of results—from watercolor-like transparency and the flatness of tempera and gouache to the buttery quality of oils. He presents an insider’s look at the most up-to-date tools, materials, and techniques used by top painters in the medium to produce highly expressive art. 

Van Patten offers guidance on materials, processes, balance, and composition, and focuses on effectively using color in painting. Replete with detailed step-by-step technical demonstrations and a catalog of inspiring works by notable past and contemporary artists, as well as the author himself and his students, The Acrylic Painter provides a complete, classic art instruction manual for painters of all abilities in one of today’s most popular types of paint.

James Van Patten is a native of Seattle, Washington, where he graduated from the University of Washington in 1965 with a BA in art education with an emphasis on painting. He completed his MFA in 1968 in Painting with minors in both Art History and Printmaking from Michigan State University. He has taught painting (as well as other studio classes), and lectured in art history at the university level in the ensuing years on both coasts and in the Midwest. Presently, he is a professor of painting at the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY. There he has taught the only course in acrylic techniques offered by SVA for over twenty years. He’s spent bulk of his career in the studio as a practicing artist, working primarily in acrylic paint on large-scale landscape paintings. OK Harris, New York, NY represented him exclusively for over thirty years, and for over a decade the Plus One Gallery of London has shown his work exclusively in England. His work is featured in collections throughout the United States and Europe.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 01

Chapter 01 ACRYLIC PAINTS AND ADDITIVES 03
Types of Acrylic Paint 04
Additives 21

Chapter 02 PALETTES, BRUSHES & OTHER PAINTING TOOLS 31
The Palette: Dry or Wet? 32
Brushes 34
Other Studio Supplies 41
Keeping Clean and Cleaning Up 42

Chapter 03 SURFACES FOR PAINTING 45
Prestretched Canvases 46
Stretching Your Own Canvas 47
Gesso 50
Panels 54
Paper and Board Grounds 56

Chapter 04 VISUAL EXPERIENCE 59
Really Seeing What You’re Looking At 60
The Elements of Visual Experience 61

Chapter 05 COLOR 75
Color Theory Basics 76
Mixing Colors 91

Chapter 06 YOUR VISION AS A PAINTER 97
Choosing a Style 98
Choosing a Subject 109

Chapter 07 ACRYLIC PAINTING TECHNIQUES 121
Underpainting 122
Using Photographs 127
Overpainting 132
Painting Hard Edges 136
Blending 138
Glazing 139
Impasto Painting 143
Letting the Painting Communicate with You 147

Chapter 08 FINISHING AND PRESENTING A PAINTING 151
Protecting the Surface 152
Matting, Mounting, and Framing Under Glass 153
Framing Works on Canvas or Board 156
The Next Painting 159

About the Author 162
Index 163