How I Became a Crack Addict with Acrylics

Lesson Three, 2016

Lesson Three is another transition piece from oils to acrylics.

I was beginning to like acrylics. But my other foot was still solidly entrenched in oil/cold wax medium.

I had fallen in love with oils only a year before, and I was reluctant to let it go. 

At first, I was skeptical that acrylics could even remotely simulate the effects I had labored to achieve in oil/cold wax. I was overwhelmed with the choices.

Too many bells and whistles: acrylic gel thickeners, molding paste, retarders, gloss-semigloss-matte, fluid medium, clear tar gel, course pumice gel, GAC!!!

And then, I discovered crackle paste. 

To my fascination and utter surprise, crackle paste behaved as advertised. It cracked! I was so mesmerized that, for a short time at least, I wanted to apply crackle paste to everything.

I became a crack addict. Forget about watching paint dry. I was watching paint crack! Your honor, I present "Lesson Three", my third acrylic painting. For the child in me, it was magic, and I wanted more. 

And so I turned my back on those lovely oils and plunged myself headlong into acrylics. Ah, well, another year, another medium. It was early 2016, and I found myself merrily skipping down another yellow brick road.