Two Acrylic Practice Paintings – Works in Progress

A dreamy view over the beautiful Australian countryside to the distant Mountains m, in the early morning light , one of my acrylic practice paintings.
The Red Path

As some of you may know, I am following an online course on painting at the moment. And I’d like to show you two of my acrylic practice paintings. In fact, the painting above is almost completely finished and I decided to leave it a while. To be honest, I am learning such a lot on this course. And I want to think a bit more about the techniques and design ideas I now know about. Then, later I will bring the painting to completion. However, I am fairly pleased with the stage I have brought it to. Incidentally, this method of working is quite new to me. Actually, I usually work in a more impulsive manner, but I do always put a lot of thought into my paintings.

New Techniques and Design Ideas in my Practice Paintings

In this painting, I used a different choice of colours on the palette, following the instruction given. And, this took me right out of my comfort zone, which can be a good thing! But, as you can see, these were the right choices for this dreamy Australian landscape. Secondly, I attempted to blend the colours in the sky – again something I never try to do. Admittedly, I need to practise this more, but then, hopefully, I will have acquired a new skill.

The Tribute to Monet Acrylic Painting

A spectacular deep lily pond with pink and white blossoms - one of my acrylic practice paintings.
The Lily Pond

Again, I must make it clear that this one of my acrylic practice paintings just lacks the final finishing touches. And , I’m prepared to leave it a while before I decide how much extra detail to add, if any. As you can see, there were plenty of challenges in this. Including, naturally, the subject – reflections on still water, a subject I have skillfully avoided until now! Well, I did do my best, but there’s room for improvement. On the other hand, I managed to suggest perspective in the floating flowers and leaves. That is, to put it simply, the furthest ones smaller and the nearest ones bigger and all at the correct angle to suggest they are lying on the water. Baby steps I know, but it’s very valuable to a self taught artist like me ! I really can’t wait to see what else I can learn. If you want to see a painting that I completed with the tutor’s help, see this post here . I will post another update soon!

10 Replies to “Two Acrylic Practice Paintings – Works in Progress”

  1. For “unfinished” work these look really nice, Margaret! I’ve done very little acrylic since the 80s but always liked how they dried fast and let me layer & scumble, something I’ve read Monet did a bunch of, so you’re on a great path it looks like 😊 I like both pics but lean a little toward the top one with over lapping land directions, very soft, very pretty!

    1. Thank you, Felipe. This course is making me think a lot more about when to stop painting and how much detail to include. Everyone seems to prefer the mountain scene .

    1. I’m glad you enjoy reading about my work. It’s the first course I’ve done online – I think I’m really missing the interaction with other artists. I usually go to several art groups and I love the chat and the inspiration, so this course is sort of second best. But, the teaching is very good. I found the lake picture quite difficult, but it’s all progress!

  2. On the Red Path – would the foreground grass slope be better in yellowish/ orange? hues (echoing the sky) and breaking up the mass of green and banging a complementary against the distant blues?

    1. You may be right, Graham. But I didn’t want to make any major changes at this stage – just learn as much as I can using this method at first. And then start adapting it .

Let me know what you think !