Acrylic Painting Step by Step

Working with Translucent Washes

The transparent properties of thinned acrylic paint are perfect for depicting delicate and yet colorful subjects, such as the clear and reflective surfaces of glass and the fragile, soft curves of flower petals. As with watercolor, you can lighten the value of an acrylic wash by adding more water to the pigment, which in turn allows more of the white support to show through the color. This gives the paint a luminous quality. You can also use acrylic washes to build up rich color, layer by layer. Because acrylic is waterproof when dry, you can layer new washes over previous ones without lifting or changing the initial pigment. As a result, you can achieve the airy quality of watercolor with a greater degree of control ...