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.
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?