Ruahines 2

Ruahines 2. 13 1/2" x 7 1/4". Acrylic on paper.

This is a painting I started on Saturday and finished today. It feels like kind of a breakthrough for me in using this medium, so I'm feeling happy. I like how I can use a combination of watercolor and oil techniques, and work rapidly on paper, though I'm using Golden's Open Medium to keep the mixed colors from drying out immediately. Again, thanks to Robb Kloss for his inspiring photos of New Zealand's Ruahines. These mountains, once they're above treeline, remind me of Iceland even though the vegetation is different, so there's a familiarity and emotional reaction that are probably helping as I paint.

The color is a bit more accurate in the details below.

Tech notes: this is a very limited palette of five colors plus white (see below.) It's more work to mix the colors but I always think the result is more unified and harmonious that way. As in watercolors, if I were using a different blue or yellow as the base primary, the resulting overall tonality would be different. Just scratching the surface in terms of knowledge of comparative transparencies and so forth. It turns out that I just don't own very many acrylics to begin with -- and some of the tubes I did have were dried up and had to be thrown out. Time for a trip to the art supply store! And I'm extremely pleased to be using paints that were made only a few miles from where I grew up, by Golden Artist Colors, a very progressive employee-owned company that's providing a lot of jobs in a depressed area as well as making one of the best products worldwide.