7 Handy Acrylic Painting Tips for Beginners
Learning how to paint with acrylic paints is not only a beautiful way to slow down, learn a new skill and find a new way to express your emotions on paper or canvas - it’s also so much easier if you have a few basic tips up your sleeve to get you started.
So here are a few handy tips to make the process of learning to paint with acrylics easier and more enjoyable if you’re just starting out.
As you learn to paint, most importantly remember to be kind to yourself. You can use my Inquisitive Pause tool from my free class to stay mindful and present during the process ~ and remember to have fun! :)
How to Care for Your Brushes
While you’re painting, you’ll want to keep your brushes wet. If you’re not using them for a while, leave them in your bucket of water, then dry them with a rag when you’re ready to apply the next colour. I often have a few brushes on the go at a time, using them for different colours to save having to wash my brush in between each colour. As long as I’m using them, they stay wet and the brush doesn’t get damaged.
Acrylic paint is a form of plastic, so when it dries out it will ruin your brushes if not washed off. At the end of each painting session, give your brushes a thorough wash in your bucket of water, making sure to get the pigment out from way up in the top of the bristles.
You can wash your brushes in warm, soapy water to make sure they are very clean and well-looked after. I like to use simple dishwashing liquid to wash my brushes.
Allow them to dry without putting pressure on the bristles. If you have a wide brush, allow it to dry flat so the bristles remain in place. Other, smaller brushes should be fine drying standing up in a jar or container.
The sponge brushes are a fun tool I’ve enjoyed playing with in the past. They hold a lot of water, so I found if I wash them then squeeze out the excess water into my rag it stops them becoming overly floppy and saturated. You can get sponge brushes from the hardware store if you want to have a play. They’re inexpensive and fun!
Keeping Acrylic Paints Wet
While you’re playing with acrylic paints, you’ll need to keep the paint on your palette wet. Having a spray bottle nearby is super handy because you can give your palette a spray every once in a while to keep the paints from drying out.
I often don’t squeeze out too much paint at a time for acrylics, and instead add more from the tube or bottle as I go, thus keeping the paints wet that way too. But if you want to mix a large quantity of a colour to keep using throughout your painting, you will likely want to spray it to keep it moist. Or, mix it in a plastic container and cover it with either plastic wrap or a lid in between use.
Handling Your Palette & Saving Paint
I remember wondering how to save paint when I began my visual arts course years ago. There are a few tricks; how much paint you squeeze out; covering up paint for later; or using left over paint as the base layer of a new painting.
Putting Paint Onto Your Palette
If you're squeezing from a tube, just start with a small amount when you're making a small work on paper. You can always add more. Begin with about 20c piece size and add more if you need.
If you've got plastic tubs, you can use your brush or palette knife to pull out a small quantity and put it on your palette (or use a plastic spoon to scoop it out if you like and wipe your spoon between colours to keep them from mixing.)
Covering Paint To Use Later
Acrylic paint dries when air is moving over the surface of it. So you can cover left over paint with plastic cling wrap (from the kitchen) and it will stay wet, provided you cover the whole palette and stick it under the edges. Some of your paint will stick to the wrap when you pull it off, so you can either use your brush to put it back on your palette or just cut your loses and toss the plastic wrap out.
Or, you can find a container that will fit your palette inside and provided it has a lid and there’s no air holes, it will keep larger quantities of paint wet for a while too.
Using Up Left Over Paint
If you’re working in a style of painting that takes a lot of layers, you may like to use your left over paint on a fresh canvas to put down that first layer of colour. Only do this if you like the colours you have left and you’re happy to use it as a base layer for a new work to carry on with later.
A Note on "Wasting” Materials
It was a revelation to me one day when I was just beginning to paint, that skimping on paint and trying to use old, hard, lumpy paint from days before wasn’t doing my painting practice any good. I realised I needed to give myself permission to ‘waste’ some paint and throw it out at the end of a painting session so I could start a fresh next time.
These days I keep my paints on my palette until they are lumpy or beginning to dry, then I tear off that palette, lift off any good paint from the old page onto a fresh palette page with my palette knife, and start again. It feels cleaner, clearer and easier that way.
You may be like me, and need to give yourself permission to use more materials so you’re able to create your best work from a place of abundance.
“Wasting” materials is a natural part of the process of painting and shows you’re actually in there, doing it! So follow the tips above and do your best to economise, but don’t get hung up feeling a sense of lack or stress about waste. Abundance in your outlook and your practice will do wonders for the quality of work your produce and how much you enjoy the process.
Practice Using the Inquisitive Pause
If you find the process of learning to paint with acrylic paint challenging, I highly recommend you check in with yourself as you keep learning and practising. Use self-compassion and the Inquisitive Pause to see how you are feeling. Notice any sensations in your body or thoughts as they are moving through your mind. Be there as a witness, without judgement, to stay friendly towards yourself and curious about your experience.
Being able to flow with the different emotions that come up as we learn a new skill, whether those emotions are creative shame or perhaps joyful elation and surprise at what we are capable of, is how we build our capacity to continue with the process, develop our skills and more fully express what is true and authentic to us.
Each time we do, we are developing our mindfulness muscle which helps us to build a foundation of love, curiosity, and thereby bravery in all areas of our lives.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about learning a new skill and how you navigated the challenging emotions accompanying the process, or tips you have for beginners who are learning about painting with acrylic paints in the comments below!
Be kind to yourself and nurture your creativity.
