the brush. Th e acrylic paint covered
well (over light and dark paint) and
fl owed easily from the markers (see
image above, left). If there was one
drawback, it was how easily the nib
distorted the mark when I was work-
ing on a textured surface. I admit I’m
an aggressive painter, and my paint-
ing included lots of previously applied
pigment—with the result that the
ground was rough. I think the mark-
ers would work best on a relatively
smooth surface.
SPRAYING UP A STORM
I had the most fun experimenting
with Liquitex Professional Spray
Paint. It’s highly pigmented acrylic
paint in a spray can. Th is is not your
hardware-variety, low-cost, low-qual-
ity spray paint. When I received the
materials from Liquitex I was working
on a large, nonobjective painting, so I
decided to incorporate the spray paint
into my work (see image above, right).
I found the spray width and pat-
tern to be very controllable (I’m well
versed in spraying), and it was easy
to achieve a smooth blending of dif-
ferent colors. One or two passes left
a transparent passage; further coats
provided an opaque passage: all very
controllable.
Liquitex can supply three dif-
ferent caps that will provide a small,
medium (standard), and large spray
swath. I found the medium (standard)
cap to be perfect for what I was doing.
Th ere is a “however” however: Th is
is acrylic paint, and just as with an
airbrush, you have to keep the nozzle
(cap) clean. I’d advise you to purchase
the spray Cap Cleaner and follow the
directions. If you do that, you should
have no problems with a clogged cap.
WORKS ALWAYS IN PROGRESS
As often happens, what I do in one
compartment of painting runs over
into another. While I was experi-
menting with incorporating the
acrylic spray into a current nonobjec-
tive work, my Wednesday Morning
Plein Air day was approaching. I took
FAR LEFT: Heavy
Body brushstroke
LEFT: INK! spots in
green
BOTTOM LEFT: Paint
Markers in yellow
and black
BOTTOM RIGHT: The
artist using the
Liquitex Spray Paint
outdoors
30 artistsmagazine.com
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