I will take you behind the scenes in my studio!

Alison Nicholls in the studio

About 2 years ago I switched from using watercolor on paper to Golden Fluid Acrylics on Fredrix Watercolor Canvas. The acrylics can be diluted with water, so I am able to use them in my usual watermedia style, and the canvas is bright white with a fine weave which allows for loose washes of color as well as detailed work.

To start a new painting I cut a piece of canvas from the roll and staple it to my board. I transfer my pencil drawing to the canvas, then I mix my acrylic washes, using white plates as my palettes. I brush the entire canvas with clean water, then add the 1st wash, waiting for it to dry before adding the next. Acrylics dry quite fast, even when used in watery washes, so this allows me to add many washes of color to the same painting in a day. However, their quick-drying nature also has disadvantages. When they dry on the palette, they cannot be reinvigorated by adding more water, so colors must be mixed again from scratch. And once paint has dried on the canvas, it is there to stay and even minor changes are virtually impossible.

Watercolor Sketch Kit contrasted with Studio Acrylic Painting Materials

When it comes to the finishing touches, acrylics are very different to the watercolors I used previously. I frame the acrylics without glass, so they must be varnished. This involves 2 layers of an isolation coat, which protects the painting, then 2 coats of removable varnish. Why removable varnish? Well lets say you open a soda (carbonated drink) and carelessly spray it all over your painting! You call me up, worried that your painting is going to disintegrate. Instead, we remove the 2 coats of varnish and the isolation coat underneath should be intact, protecting the original painting beneath. After new coats of removable varnish are applied, your painting should be just fine, although I can't say the same for the frame or anything else that got covered in soda!

Learning how to use fluid acrylics and canvas took me some time and involved plenty of research and experimentation with varnish. But I really enjoy painting with these materials and didn't have to change my watermedia style. However, I still haven't got used to how little my framed paintings weigh compared to watercolors under glass!

I've been promising some new limited edition giclées for a while, including some larger pieces, and here they are! The pieces above, from left to right, are Elephant!, Ensnared, Hide of an Elephant, Maize Maze and On The Edge. These, along with several others, are available on canvas (the same size as the original painting) and on watercolor paper (half the size of the original). Check out these and other New Limited Editions.

You can also read my latest blog post to learn exactly what a limited edition giclée is:  Prints, Reproductions, Giclées - A Confusion Of Options.