BLOG: There is Always More to Learn

Each year I try to spend time and money to take a new art workshop. I have taken many over the years, like watercolor, design, composition, and drawing classes. 

It's funny that I've only recently taken an acrylic-painting workshop, since it's been my primary medium for many years. I have used acrylic paints long enough to have a love/hate relationship with them. 

One reason to hate acrylics comes from the fact that they dry so darn fast, but, ironically, it's also one of the reasons to love them. Another hate thing is that they ruin your good brushes, however, that means you don't have to buy expensive brushes, which is another reason to love them!

Actually, there are more reasons to love acrylics than to hate them. Acrylics, depending on how they're applied, have the ability to make your work look like it's a water color or an oil-based painting, they can be painted on a variety of surfaces, like paper, canvas, board or wood, and solvents aren't required because there's no strong odors and it cleans up with soap and water.

I thought I pretty much knew all about acrylics until I finally took a workshop. The teacher, Wayne Jiang, is an accomplished acrylic painter who runs his classes well, is prepared and doesn't waste time. 

He's also great at demonstrating the technique behind painting with acrylics because he uses many comparisons to get his ideas across. One of my favorites is, "Painting is a lot like cooking, too many different flavors can ruin a dish, too many different colors can ruin a painting."

Jiang taught the class to use an under-painting to create the structure of the painting. Then, to paint in layers using thin mixtures of paint glazing slowly over each layer and coating them with an acrylic gloss varnish to create a luminous look. He also uses a very limited color palette. 

I never paint my best in a workshop because I'm out of my comfort zone, feeling self-conscious and am trying to absorb lots of new information. It isn't until I'm back in my studio that I start working again and realize I'm glazing and layering the way Jiang taught me, and that I'm producing better work with this new technique.  

Even though I'm very familiar with this medium, I learned so much more by taking this workshop. I probably won't do everything Wayne's way, but I took the things that work for me and added them to my artist toolbox--and there's always more to learn.

Before heading back to my studio to paint yet again, I want to give a shout-out and a big congratulations to Gilroy's hard-working artist, Whitney Pintello, for winning .

Whitney left a comment saying she feels honored to have won, and I think it's a big honor, too. Whitney and I have been booth neighbors at local festivals and she creates beautiful art. I can confidently say that this year's festival poster contest judges made a great choice.