Peni 's Palette of Colors
Painting Tips & Tricks
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Peni Powell © 1999-2003
Maybe some of you already have knowledge of these, but if not, I hope you will find these tips helpful in your painting.
If you ever get build up of acrylic paint in your brushes, here is a suggestion: Soak your brush in vodka, do not let the tip sit in the bottom of the container for over an hour. Then, remove the brush and work the bristles back and forth gently in the palm of your hand. Wash the brush with Murphy's Oil soap, working it into the fibers, rinse in lukewarm water and reshape your brush. Then, you are ready to use it again or store it. I have saved many a student's brush in this manner and have also removed those drops of paint on that favorite blouse.
Ooops! You have that bent brush! Try swishing it in hot coffee and then reshape it. Hot water doesn't work as well for some reason, but the coffee will fix that long liner 8 out of 10 times.
Most colors of bottled acrylics have been tinted to create the colors, as you well know. When you start adding black or white to them, they can get muddy (or chalky in the case of light values). Instead, try using Dioxazine Purple to gray colors and Light Ivory or some other Off-White to lighten the values. Dioxazine Purple will gray or soften any hue on your palette, but when doing this, use these brands: Folk Art Pure Pigment or Jo Sonjas Dioxazine Purple. Delta will work, but it does have some tint to it and it doesn't work quite as well as the other brands. When lightening colors, use the Off-White, then if you need it even a lighter value, add Titanium to that mix. I have all my students keep these colors along with the primary colors. Then, we can usually mix any color they might need in a pinch.
Remember to always keep those Baby Wipes in your paint carrier to wipe off that "oops"!
Happy painting to each and every one of you!
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