Master the Basics of Acrylic Blending

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Master the Blending techniques for Acrylics

Acrylic painting is fun and easy as soon as you master a few of the very simple ways to handle it as a medium. Blending is one of the biggies!

Primary rules of working with Acrylics

  1. Pre-mist your canvas and your palette of paints,  AS NECESSARY, to keep paint moist.
  2. Your Brush must be DAMP & the paint a Medium consistency.
  3. Remember that the Brush stroke direction is important to whatever object you are painting.

Horizontal Blending #1

This could be the blending of 1 color (dark to light- gradation) or with 2 colors (dark & light).  This type of  blending might be done for a sky or as a gradient background for a still life.  Load your Taklon flat brush with a mix (Thalo Blue+White) and place at the top of your canvas.  Clean your brush & load with White paint and place at the bottome of the area you wish to cover.  Using the flat brush (held horizontally) brush & stroke from side to side, bringing the top color down and the bottom color up.  Stroke over the area where the colors meet. 

Multi-Color Blend #2

This might be a blend that you would use for a sunset sky.  Starting at the bottom, place yellow, skip a space & next place Red, blend these 2 colors to make orange.  Skip a place above Red and place Dioxazine Purple there.  Blend between the red & purple to make Red-Violet.  Skip a place above te DP.  Place Thalo Blue next.  Go back & blend between DP and TB and blend to make blue-violet.  

Circular Blend: #3

This is how to blend for Sunlight, moonlight or lamplight in the mist.  Place a White circle, the add a pale yellow & white circle around, then add a strip of pale misty gray blue (yellow+tch DP+tch TB + White.  Blend using circular, flat strokes.  Add a bit deeper gray blue and blend into outer ring.  Strengthen the sun, moon or light source with more white or white +yellow.  To soften this even more, you may want to use a soft, fluffy blending brush (cosmetic blush blender).

Use of Floetrol or other Glazing Liquid #4

These liquids mediums thin the paint to a more blendable  consistency and keep the paint “open” or moist longer.  Place some liquid on your palette.  Pick up a small amount on you brush & thoroughly mix with paint.  It will mix easier on your palette.  Place 2 colors side by side and blend lightly together.    Just remember, this paint has to  DRY COMPLETELY, before painting over.

Criss-Cross #5

This blending method can be used for very interesting, beautiful & painterly backgrounds and is one of my favorits.  Use any 3 colors or shades of colors (YO,BS,BU) and going from dark to light and generally on a diagonal (more interesting).  Use XXXXXX’s and the flat side of your brush, blend.  Lightly mist your background as needed.  Use a filbert and work into the canvas.  Come back with a soft flat brush, held horizontally to the canvas and soften to remove any unwanted brush strokes.

Scumble over a solid, dry background #6

Scumble means to drag a wet paint lightly over a dry surface.  Using a stiff bristle brush  (Hog) on its side, lightly  drag over dry surface one or more colors at a time.  This would best be used when trying to paint a background, middle & foreground in a landscape.  

Glazing #7

Glazing (painting with a thinned paint over a dry background) allows you to place detailed shadows & to change colors in a subtle way.  This is one of the most valuable blending techniques to master because it allows you to create realistic form and to show the effects of light on the subject.

This works well to add subtle shadows to waves in water scenes and to cloud formations.  In addition, this is the perfect and easiest way to create the effect of glass.

You can purchase glazing liquid from almost any  art company.  I like the Liquitex or Golden brand, personally.  Sometimes I use Floetrol by Flood  because it can be used as a glaze &/or “Pouring Medium”.  Use soft flat brush (Taklon) to apply.

Just put a little on your palette and mix paint, little by little into the glaze.   If you load your brush just on the corner, you will have much more control in placing shadows on objects.

Blending Round Objects #8

This blending requires its own discussion even though it uses “glazing “and the “circular” blend.  It is totally dependent upon establishing a light source. 

To practice this, draw a circle with chalk pencil and determine a light source.  Use 3 values, light, medium and dark.

Base the circle with the medium value, mist with water as needed.  Use Glazing liquid & the dark value to place a curving line on the side opposite the light source.  Use flat, curving strokes with a soft, flat brush to blend.

 Add the lightest value to the place dictated by the light source.  Very lightly, blend the edges of this light to soften into the medium value.

So Practice a little bit and have FUN!