Impasto Florals

Texture. Texture. Texture. I have a thing for exploring texture in my artwork. My love of texture is what originally drew me to palette knife play with oil paint straight from the tube. Over the last 4-5 years, I have perfected my process of layering collage, cold wax medium and oil paint. I love the juxtaposition of glossy oils with matte cold wax medium. But...

I understand that oil paint is not for everyone. And because I had so many inquiries about using acrylics for this process, I came up with a way to create these beautiful palette knife pieces using acrylic paint instead of oil, and how to finish them with cold wax medium. No, you cannot mix cold wax medium with acrylics but there is a way around it. The process is a little complicated, but well worth it for those of you not wanting use oils. I am excited to share this process with all of you who have requested a way to create these pieces with acrylics.

In this class, we will explore:

• Creating impasto florals through layered palette knife painting
• How to use acrylic skins for texture
• Tips and tricks for creating with your palette knife
• How to create dimension in your abstract sill life paintings
• When and how to utilize cold wax medium with acrylics (Hint: it's all about the order)
• Creating encaustic-like collage backgrounds with fabric and cold wax medium
• Utilizing embroidery in your collage backgrounds
• Getting thick with acrylics and how to go about it

Materials and Supplies:

• Art boards (cradled art boards or flat canvas boards)
• Fabric
• Matte gel medium
• Light molding paste
• Glazing medium for acrylics
• Cold wax medium
• Heavy body acrylics
• Palette knife
• Paintbrush
• Stretched canvas (optional)
• Embroidery floss
• Needle
• Mark making tools
• Oil pastels (optional)

Note: For those of you who want to learn with oils, I highly recommend my class, Let It Be.