From the Author
“No matter who you ask, the one word to describe acrylics is ‘flexibility.’ There are simply so many ways to use this wonderful medium, and they haven’t all been discovered yet. Our intention is to show you as many ways as possible within these pages.”

Enter the studios of seven acrylic artists! You’ll find inspiration to experiment with acrylics--and techniques to help you succeed.

Acrylics are famed for their versatility. They can be used right from the tube to look like oil paints, thinned with water or painting medium and used like traditional watercolors, or applied with techniques unique to themselves.

This book brings together seven top acrylic artists, each of whom uses the paints differently to express their individual styles. In their work, the medium takes on myriad faces--from the look of highly controlled transparent watercolor, to abstract expressionism, and everything in between.

Meet the Artists
Each artist is profiled in a complete chapter, which includes details on basic approaches, favorite paints and materials, and a remarkable gallery of art. In step-by-step demonstrations, the artists share their individual techniques, along with their own unique tips and tricks. You’ll learn, for example, how to:

• intensify colors by glazing
• paint a light subject on a dramatic dark background
• achieve the look of snow, swirling water and other textures
• create unexpected edges with negative painting

• Joseph Orr uses textural techniques to enhance his traditional rustic country scenes. For Orr’s approach, the strength of the medium is in using it like oil paint, interspersing a variety of techniques that would be impossible with oil. For instance, to create an illusion of texture he manipulates the paint using a palette knife, plastic wrap or a paper towel. These techniques, when used over a solid color or under a glaze of color, create a remarkable sense of depth and detail.
• William Hook paints breathtaking vistas and lively flowers, achieving pulsating color with buttery impasto strokes. For fine art, acrylics have been Hook’s medium of choice for over thirty years, during which time he has explored most styles of objective representational art. He sees no need to always paint with the same style when the medium of acrylic paint will handle anything he wants to create. So every one of his paintings has a multitude of paint applications, from thick buttery strokes to thin watery paint, soft blended areas to crisp geometric flat areas.
• Michael Nevin uses multiple thin glazes to build luminosity in his city and suburban scenes. Attracted to acrylics more than 20 years ago because of their simplicity, directness and versatility, Nevin first worked “flat.” After returning to the Midwest in the early '80s, he began to paint in a more traditional way, with a measure of modeling and painterly effects, but continued to paint “thin” to allow the underpainting to influence the finished work. His rule is, “The simpler the better.”
• Louise Cadillac uses experimental techniques to create her expressive abstracts. Cadillac finds experimenting with user-friendly acrylics exciting, productive and gratifying. The fast drying rate allows several painting techniques to be applied in quick succession, experiments to be wiped away and others applied over top. Watch as she demonstrates textural techniques such as stamping with a palette knife, drawing with alcohol, lifting and painting over collage.

Why Acrylics?
You’ll hear the stories of how and why each artist came to use acrylics. They are as diverse as the work itself. Mary Sweet turned to acrylics in the mid '60s, when the chemicals and slow drying time of oil paints became a problem after her son was born.

William Hook’s relationship with acrylics began with his 16 years in advertising design and illustration, where quick-drying acrylics were the medium of necessity.

And Barbara Buer picked up a tube of acrylics one day out of frustration when she ran out of watercolor paint! She found that acrylics made it easier to execute the large, smooth, dark backgrounds that are intricate to her paintings.

Experience the Excitement
There’s no more enjoyable way to learn than by watching the masters at work. In this book, you’ll see up-close how seven individual artists work, while also getting an overall sense of the versatility and creative excitement of acrylics.

Writes author Rachel Wolf, “There is a lot to learn between these covers, as well as a good deal of inspiring art. But most of all, we hope you catch the excitement that these seven artists communicate about the flexibility, variety and, therefore, possibilities of acrylics.”