Rethinking Acrylic

Have you ever walked into an art supply store, stood in front of the amazing array of acrylic products and just thrown up your hands in confusion, leaving the store without buying something new to experiment with? If you've ever wondered what to do with all those products, then this book is for you. If you've been using acrylic in traditional painting forms, in this book you'll find grand, wild and inventive manipulations of acrylic that will get your creative juices flowing. Compared to more traditional art mediums such as oil and watercolor, acrylic is still in its infancy. But what it lacks in years, it makes up for in its range of use. Acrylics appeared on the market for artists in the late 1940s as a quick-drying alternative to oil paint. In its early manifestations, it dried so quickly that more than a few brushes stuck immediately to the canvas! Although acrylic has been around for more than fifty years, incredible advances continue to be made in the research and development of acrylic polymers and pigments. These advancements are attributable not only to the efforts of a few dedicated chemists, but also to the work of an entire community devoted to acrylic. There are a lot of brilliant minds taking these minute molecules very seriously.

Revolutionize your work with acrylics! Get ready for the creative ride of your life! Tradition is out, experimentation is in with this cutting-edge how-to sampler of techniques to use with acrylic, the world’s most versatile medium. Inside, you’ll find inventive, non-traditional, downright inspirational ways to paint with acrylic (pour, scrape, squirt, roll, layer and excavate). Workshop style instruction covers a wide range of approaches: Watermedia Effects * Creating Texture Gels * Subtractive Techniques * Collage and Acrylic Skins * Acrylic Transfers and the Printed Image * Pours * Acrylic Encaustic * Metallic and Reflective Paints * Drawing and Resists with Acrylic * Traditional Techniques with Acrylic * Varnishing • 18 step-by-step demonstrations illustrate a wide variety of techniques including engraving acrylic, intarsia, pouring acrylic objects and more. • Studio visits profile 10 artists and their personal approaches to painting with acrylics. If you want to try something new...to put more play into your artwork...to test-drive some of those enticing products you’ve been eyeing...open this book and go for it. We’re not talking just about brush and canvas anymore...get out the hand-sander and Plexiglas, and hold on tight (or better yet, let loose!), because this adventure-in-acrylics will take you through a variety of possibilities. Delicate transparent washes, lively impasto surfaces, radical multi-dimensional effects... What will YOU think of next?

This text brings together a collection of essays by leading anthropologists, covering an entire range of visual representation and including discussions on the anthropology of art, the study of landscape, and the history of anthropology.

Award-winning illustrator and painter Marjorie Sarnat presents an outstanding refresher course in creative thinking, suitable for artists of every level. In this guide, she shares the tips and techniques she's discovered in the course of her personal experiences and explorations. These 300 quick, easily grasped text passages detail methods for adding inspiration and innovation to your creative process. The new, hands-on approaches to materials, painting surfaces, and texture applications can help you find a fresh angle for your style or break through a creative block. Every "secret" in this book is expressed in practical terms geared toward boosting your artistic abilities. From sharpening your drawing skills and applying media in unique ways to creating intriguing visual illusions and refining your choices of color and composition, this guide is loaded with advice and fresh ideas. You'll also find cost-saving ways to obtain and manage your art tools and supplies as well as scores of ideas for making art with creative kids.

Vast collection of prompts, ideas, and insights provides a reading companion for students as well as amateur and professional visual artists, helping them find better ways to organize, manage, and develop inspiration.

Unleash your inner artist and join Traci Bautista as she shares inventive ideas for making marks with handmade tools, nontraditional materials and simple DIY printmaking techniques. Pulsing with exploration and whimsy, Printmaking Unleashed features 60+ step-by-step demonstrations and countless possibilities for creating original prints, fabrics, art journal pages, mixed-media collage, and so much more. WHAT'S INSIDE... • Tools Galore! Create a variety of handmade mark-making tools and texture plates using everything from encaustic paints, Collage Pauge and chipboard letters to modeling compound, needlepoint canvas and recycled cardboard. • Mix-and-Match Techniques! Discover digital and traditional techniques for producing one-of-a-kind monoprints. Start with the basics, then build up layer after luscious layer of color and texture. • Pure inspiration! Every page offers new ideas, original artwork and creative jumpstarts. Flip through the pages and learn how anything with interesting texture or shape (rubber bands, vintage lace, the bottom of a bottle) can be incorporated into printmaking for exciting, unique effects. You will never look at a toothpick, freezer bag or plastic zip tie in the same way again!

The Art of Theatrical Design: Elements of Visual Composition, Methods, and Practice, Second Edition, contains an in-depth discussion of design elements and principles for costume, set, lighting, sound, projection, properties, and makeup designs. This textbook details the skills necessary to create effective, evocative, and engaging theatrical designs that support a play contextually, thematically, and visually. It covers key concepts such as content, context, genre, style, play structure, and format and the demands and limitations of various theatrical spaces. The book also discusses essential principles, including collaboration, inspiration, conceptualization, script analysis, conducting effective research, building a visual library, developing an individual design process, and the role of the critique in collaboration. This second edition includes A new chapter on properties management and design. A new chapter on makeup design. A new chapter on digital rendering, with evaluations of multiple programs, overviews of file types and uses, and basic tutorials in Adobe® Photoshop® and Procreate. An expanded and revised chapter on traditional rendering, with the inclusion of new media, including watercolor, gouache, and mixed media, and updated exercises and tutorials. Revised and expanded chapters on individual design areas, including additional practices for conceptualization and collaboration, with new exercises for skill development. Additional exercises in all elements and principles of design chapters for investigation of each design principle and skill development. Revised and updated content throughout the text, reflecting current pedagogy and practices. This book gives students in theatrical design, introduction to design, and stagecraft courses the grounding in core design principles they need to approach design challenges and make design decisions in both assigned class projects and realized productions. The Art of Theatrical Design provides access to additional online resources, including step-by-step video tutorials of the exercises featured in the book.

Play With Paint All Year Long! Incorporating paint into your mixed-media art has never been easier or more fun. Open up your paint box and delve into a year of creative ideas from 45 of your favorite artists. Whether you've used paint for years or have been anxious to try a new medium, you'll find great advice and ideas inside Mixed-Media Paint Box. Each week, you'll be guided with step-by-step instructions through a different project or technique that will add instant depth and drama to your art! Inside you'll find: • 52 projects and techniques, one for every week of the year, to inspire a weekly dose of creativity. • Tips, hints and suggestions from some of your favorite authors, including Ruth Rae, Claudine Hellmuth, Chrissie Grace, Bernie Berlin and Margot Potter. • Step-by-step instructions for jewelry-making, assemblage, journaling, collage and a variety of painting techniques to incorporate into your own art. Discover inspiration and new ways to express yourself every week inside Mixed-Media Paint Box!