Colored Pencil and Acrylics, two different Beast Part 2

 Another project I'm working on is a mermaid acrylic painting. Acrylics are a different beast all together. I have been more active in acrylics in the last year than I've ever been. I spent a lot of time getting to know acrylics on different surfaces. This time I'm using wood. 

I'm learning that painting on wood and canvas is totally different. I feel like canvas is a lot easier, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to understand and learn to paint on a smooth surface like wood. 

For years I used colored pencils. It was always second nature. I want to say that because I learned to understand and master one medium like colored pencils, the transition to paint was a little bit easier. I think it helps to understand color theory, contrast, lighting, Opaque, transparency, etc. 

For this painting I added a little Ivory black to the primer and starting in a gray scale undertone. I'm doing one layer at a time. I'm not blending layer into layer. I'm watering down and scrubbing a lot. Using older brushes that are fuzzy seems to work good for this. It's very slow progress. Once the undertone is finished then I'll start in colors.