acrylics = love/hate relationship...

I've always had a love/hate relationship with acrylics and I think the "hate" is growing steadily with each painting. I'm starting to get seriously frustrated by the rapid drying nature of acrylics. I'm thinking of trying out oil paints or maybe just buying some acrylic paint retardant. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm using really cheap student grade acrylics? Either way it's driving me nuts and I think I'll dive back into watercolours and gouache in the meantime... Possibly dry media...


water lilies
acrylics on canvas, 8x10
(commissioned piece)

This was referenced off a few water lily photos I looked up on Google, combined arbitrarily in my head... I'm still struggling a lot with composition - does anyone have any book or class recommendations for this?

Since this is likely my last post of the year, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! :)

quack quack

I've always had trouble in my acrylic painting class when it came to the lessons involving the use of warm & cool colours / complementary colours. I often find it difficult to bring the whole picture together, compared to the old masters' palette (aka everything is brown-tinted).

So here is another attempt at the whole warm & cool colour thing, as well as looser brushstrokes... I definitely need more practice with composition as well!


rubber ducks
acrylics on canvas, 8.10"
(commissioned piece)

Oh and happy holidays everyone! :)

fruits & veggies

I now have this little set-up in my basement for painting, and this is the first artwork to come out of it! I'm not too happy with my painting technique or the fact that I had to rely on the old master's palette, but I guess this is what happens when I'm tight on time...?


fruits & veggies
acrylics on canvas, 8x10"
(commissioned piece)

i'm dreamin' of a white Christmas...

I wanted to capture the snowy weather yesterday so I did this quick watercolour doodle (aka ignore the non-existent perspective and odd slant) during a temporary blackout. Of course I did so in the comfort of my kitchen, looking out into my backyard... Hope you didn't get caught in it!


snow day
watercolour, gouache & col-erase pencil on paper, 8.5x11"

just a couple works in progress

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been doing mostly anime art recently!

Anyway, here are a couple of things I've been working on sporadically. I didn't really have a plan going into them (which probably shows?!). I had extra time in my last acrylic painting class a couple weeks ago and decided to create some grounds to draw on top of. So this is what I have thus far... have no idea where these are going and may end up painting over them...


Left: dying fish
Acrylics, Prismacolour warm grey markers, Sharpies, white-out, rubbing alcohol & Sakura Microns, 8.5x11"

Note: Don't be dumb like me and inhale excess amounts of alcohol vapours (from markers and rubbing alcohol I used on a brush to smooth out the marker edges and blur the red Sharpie... How many brain cells have I lost, I wonder?). Work in a well ventilated room!

Right: just a girl
Acrylics, black ballpoint pen, & pencil crayons, 8.5x11"