After painting with watercolor for two decades, Marc Grandbois shares why acrylic painting fills his needs for painting on location, and how it’s the “perfect bridge.”
“I was mainly a watercolorist for 20 years,” says Marc Grandbois. “Acrylics have been the perfect bridge for me to introduce opacity and texture into my pictorial evolution. With acrylics, I have the best of both worlds: I’m able to play with a similar fluidity and transparency as that of watercolor, and at the same time satisfy my need for using the thick alla prima approach normally attributed to oil. The more I use the medium, the more I discover how wide and interesting the range is between these two opposite characteristics.
“I like to paint fast and let some accidents happen in the process. Personally, I think the best way to transfer my feelings about a subject lies in imperfection and casualness. On the other hand, the quality of rendition in certain areas obtained by working with fine details and layers is also important. This is the perfect recipe for catching viewers’ attention by helping them to better read the image and give them the feeling they were there beside me when I painted the scene.
“As with most plein air artists, I try to lock in the mood and light as fast as I can, but I know that with acrylics I can readjust dry areas within minutes if necessary, and that gives me a liberty that I try to transfer into my expression of the landscape. Because I can carry my acrylic materials — even large-format painting surfaces — into dense and wild areas, it opens up territories to me where I would not go with a full oil gear setup.”
Connect with the artist at marcgrandbois.com.
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Blog post prepared for the web by Cherie Dawn Haas, Editor of Plein Air Today
I also and re-discovering acrylics! Very similar path through watercolors for myself. That’s great to see.
I’m fairly new to painting and just did my first Plein air outing. I found a difficult because acrylics dry so quickly especially outside. Do you use extenders with acrylics?
Hi Michael, With regards to your question about extenders, have you tried Golden Open? I have used Golden acrylics for many years and their Open acrylics fits the bill for plien air. I tend to use both Open and Heavy body when painting outdoors depending on may factors. The Open ones act very much similar to oils. I hope this helps.
I find acrylics to be great when painting outdoors. When a gust of wind sends your painting flying it’s usually dry already and doesn’t get ruined and pick up dirt and debris like an oil painting can. I paint sky and water first then layout the rest of the details in a black silhouette, then paint the colored detail over the black leaving black outlines and shadows that make my colors pop.
Acrylics are great for plein air painting! I use only 3 colors plus white and using a little slow dry gel I premix my colors in a divided plastic box with a hinged lid. When I go out to paint I’ve already mixed colors close to what I’m going to need and use the inside of the lid for my palette. Acrylics are the medium with the least rules and really are a bridge between watercolor and oil.