Terri W2R’s,
Gosh, if your regular watercolor paintings are super amazingly realistic , your WC pencil paintings are going to be 3D cinematic! I will be stalking the forum looking for your posts! 
PS…I would’ve searched heaven and earth for 400 lb WC paper 
haha
Sonia W0R’s
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Sonia with no R’s
You did a wonderful job. I really like the looseness of this artwork. When watercolors I really want to learn to paint loose like this and not tighten up.
I really enjoy seeing all of your artwork. When I am having really bad days then I will just watch some of the older live lessons. I have watched this one more than once.
Teri
2 Likes
Thank you Teri W1R @TLP,
I honestly have to follow a lesson/tutorial for anything watercolor. I still have a long journey ahead of me before attempting anything without tutorial. I can do graphite and my absolute favorite soft pastels on my own.
Oh, and anything oil paint is even farther down the road before I can be brave enough 
, but I will post all my tries!!
Sonia
1 Like
Sonia with no r’s,
One thing I have learned in doing my own artwork from reference photos is to see it as a lesson, remember what Matt says during a lesson on a similar subject.
I look and think do I sketch it myself? What medium would work? Do I use a grid, transfer, observational drawing? What part of the reference do I want to use? All of it? Just a part of it? What subjects am I more comfortable drawing or painting? Landscapes, animals, ocean scenes? Do I want to go out of my comfort zone and give something different a try?
I am doing a project where I am sketching first in graphite pictures out of my comfort zone. Then look at it and think would this work best with: colored pencils, watercolor, pen and ink, colored inks, pastels, water-mixable oils, acrylics, etc.?
I remember that it is only a piece of paper and medium. I work it in sketchbooks and if I like how one turns out I mark it to do a more formal piece of artwork.
Anyway, you practice and what you can do with pastels and graphite you can also do with other mediums, it will just take practice in those mediums like in pastels.
But also sometimes we are just meant to work in one or two mediums, for me I like working in multiple mediums since I have neurological Lyme Disease and there are days I can’t even work in one. I always have multiple projects going at the same time.
With a little confidence and lots of practice you can use any medium!
Teri with 1r
2 Likes
Hello all,
I decided to give it a go with this acrylic duck! 
It looks a bit complicated, it is a challenge for me as I haven’t done such a detailed painting in acrylics before.
I got all the colors (hopefully) that I will need and a medium for acrylics as well. I got the Liquitex slow-dri fluid additive (the purple one that Ashley is showing in the first video), but I am seeing here that some of you used glaze medium instead. Anyway, I will see how it will go, not sure exactly how I should approach it with the medium, but it looks like you just dab in the brush instead of water.
Here is my sketch from the lesson one:
Lucy
1 Like
Hi all,
I started applying some colors to my painting this week and I hope to paint some more this weekend. 
I had a bit of hard time with the little waves. I was getting a little bit lost as the grid was barely visible, but most importantly I didn’t know how to use the medium.
It says I should be using a maximum of 25% when mixing with colors, but the problem that I had was that the color was still very thick. So especially the first waves were hard to paint. I was looking how Ashley was doing it, but it looked like he had thinned the color much more. I wasn’t sure but at the end I was adding much more medium just to be able to make thinner lines.
So, that being said, if you work with this specific medium for the first time, I recommend to try it out before jumping right into your painting.
If you guys have any tips or have experience with this medium, feel free to share :).
Here is my painting so far:
Lucy
1 Like
Hi @Lucy. I have not done that lesson but did watch it. When I use medium, I also use more for finer details, which will also make it more transparent and dry slower. You can always thin acrylic with water too, but there you need to use limited amounts of water or the paint will not stay stuck to your surface.
Terri Robichon
Hi Terri @robichon ,
Thanks for answering. I bought the medium because I didn’t want to use water exactly for the reason you mentioned.
But then the medium says I should not use more than 25% when mixing, so I assumed it might not stick if I added much more. I chose this medium because it does not change the color or look of acrylics, but on the other hand, it does not have a binder in it, so I guess that’s why its % of use is limited.
I will see how it goes, and if I don’t like it, I may try to use another kind of medium for acrylics.
Does the one that you posted on the forum (Golden) have a binder in it? And how do you like it? Does it change the look of acrylics much?
Lucy.
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Hi @Lucy
I wish I could answer your questions about acrylic mediums. I have three different ones , I think. The thing is I don’t do much with acrylics and still struggle with them. I can’t remember which medium I’ve used and when. And I like water better most of the time. Next time I use a medium I’ll try to pay more attention to which one and my experience.
Terri Robichon
1 Like
Hi Terri @robichon ,
Don’t worry at all. :). I will experiment more and maybe I will find my way around it. I will try to post my observations here as well, in case it may help someone else.
Thanks for all your answers.
Lucy
1 Like
Hello all,
I decided to repaint the duck, or better to say the background. Longer I was looking at it, longer I had a feeling that water is too light and later on it would look like my duck is in a swimming pool instead of in a nature 
So I changed the color trying to get it more “grayish”. I think I like it a bit more but not sure about it yet. I tried to remove the original color from the canvas with some alcohol, and I could do it to a certain point (you can see the previous color on the left side near by the duck’s tail)
Anyway, I am (very slowly) getting use to acrylics. But it is a process 
I think this time I was a bit better with the waves, I felt I am getting them on the right spot. I approached it a bit differently this time.
I used a bit of liquid acrylic medium directly when mixing colors so they don’t get dry in a second (plus I was using it with my brush during the painting as Ashley does).
Then I got a new palette ( a glass one 
) and it was very interesting experience, I prefer it compared to palette paper ( but still getting use to a glass feel) - I bought a very cheap frame with a glass, and I think someone was mentioning this on the forum, so no big investment here.
And the last thing that I did is that I used a tape to see in which square I am. I was getting lost before so this really helped!
Here is my new duck :
And this is how I used a tape to know which square I am in:
Lucy
2 Likes
Hello Lucy, you are doing good! I am so glad you are posting your progress.
You inspired me to get my duck out of the corner pile to work on it. This duck of mine has been painted over at least three times. Last night I followed the lesson as if i never started it and painted over it up until the water with some waves’ lesson almost ended.
It is kind of thick with layers pf acrylic underneath the new layer, the previous one was too dark so no it is lighter. Also now have better paint than back then (last year?) when I first started it. So here’s my progress. Overlook the bottom half of the water because I will repaint it as I follow the lessons.
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Oooooo, no way! I am so happy! 
It is looking good! I know your previous post, I was looking at it several times, coming back to this thread and observing how you (and others) were approaching this beautiful ducking duck 
Well well, good luck to us then.
I did a little more during the weekend, still need to add some waves on the right side of the duck. As I did change the color, (not following Ashley), I quickly realized that it is hard to mix the same color the next day 
Missing some experience but that’s fine.
Here is my for now:
Lucy