Sunday Secrets #24

   This entry was originally posted on Sunday, July 1, 2012

Today's Sunday Secrets comes from a friend in Montana.

It is 

"Can you mix watercolor and acrylic in a painting?"

 

The answer is:

Of course!

With art, almost anything goes in the struggle to express our vision.

 

Acrylic and watercolor work well together because they are both water based mediums.

I know many artists and illustrators that use both mediums.

This past week, I wrote about using white watercolor in your paintings. White acrylic paint works just as well, if not better in some situations. 

 

There are exceptions to combining watercolor and acrylic though.

There are some transparent watercolor societies out there that only accept pure watercolor paintings (no acrylic).

Other watercolor societies accept any water based medium (acrylic, watercolor, and gouache).

 If you are interested in joining a watercolor society, make sure you understand what they are looking for.

 

Usually when two or more mediums are combined in a painting, 

it will be called mixed media.

 

There are other mediums that do not work as well together.

For instance, acrylic and oil can be done together.

Watercolor and oil can also be combined.

However, the acrylic or watercolor needs to be painted first and the oil on top.

That is because the oil takes a long time to fully cure and dry.

If acrylic were added on top of the oil, the paint will either never fully dry and may even crack or mold.