Messing Around with Acrylic Backgrounds

Cynthia Emerlye:
Oh what a glorious mess I've made! My studio is in shambles with paint, rags, and wet canvasses everywhere. This really necessitates the re-designing of my setup. I need more space!


For the past week I've been experimenting with backgrounds for my large canvas (which sits untouched in the bunk room.) It's a good thing I started with smaller, experimental canvases because there is so much I've forgotten from the long ago days of painting with acrylic. For the past century I've been working small - illustrating with pen, pencil and watercolor - and the looseness and forgiving nature of acrylics had been forgotten.


In the beginning of this process, I was quite timid. Watercolor is not very forgiving. You have to get it right the first time. Thus, I've gotten into the habit of working slowly and carefully. I stop and deliberate multiple times before laying down a new color - thinking things through before I proceed. With acrylic, however, if something doesn't work, I can simply paint over it! I knew this in my head, but somehow, the experience of it has beckoned me to loosen up and play more. After days and days of this, I've begun to slosh the paint around much more boldly, trying weird new things to create interesting texture.






I'm not sure many of these will actually make for a good background - most are too busy - but its given me ideas for interior texture and its helped me loosen up and have fun.

While I'm playing Bob Marley or Beethoven and sloshing paint around, my studio companion spends her time napping.