The skills and techniques came in very handy as I had to work on a challenging commission art.
The piece came out to be beautiful and you can see it on the website under the tab artwork.
Yes, I’m proud of it.

1. A water color wash is great way to start for a beginner. Wetting the paper first and then
painting fast or wet for a longer period of time to allow more time for painting.
2. Wet on wet painting is my favorite and it is advisable to work in this technique to get the
desired results. You can develop the soft edges with this technique.
3. If the wet brush stroke is applied on the dry paper the edges of painting will be sharper.
However, shortly after the application, a damp brush can be dragged through one edge to blend it away.
4. When you paint large area with a darker color, some small areas can be removed to reveal light shapes.
The dark and light contrast is always great for painting.
5. If the color is non staining, the brush can be used for lifting up the darker color to show the
contrast of light and dark.
6. When you have some accidents or have made mistakes, one can either correct it by applying more color
and fixing it or incorporating in your design with your additional paint.
7. One can use the back of the brush handle for light scrapping. Make sure it is gentle otherwise the
paper will start tearing.
Happy Painting!!

Now, this month I would like to share some tips for creative acrylic painting which I have acquired
over long period of time. Believe me it is worth your time reading and applying them in your own
painting.

They are:

1. If you are starter, use basic brand of paintings or folk art paintings
2. Advance artist use Liquitex brand
3. Since Acrylic paints dry fast, squeeze only little as desire and keep a spray bottle handy
4. Keep a habit of blotting your brushes by keeping the a wash cloth handy or a paper towel
5. To improve the flow of painting, use medium instead of water
6. In order to achieve hard edges, one can use masking tape
7. You can use the acrylic paint as a glaze by watering down and using the thin coat over the painted area
8. If working with paper, dampen the paper first so that it would work better as the paint dries faster
9. If the paint is thick it can almost act as glue when working with collage
Happy Painting!

Learning should be fun and pleasure and this technique provides both of them and much more. There are variety
of surfaces and brushes as I mentioned earlier in my blogs and they are easy to obtain. There is nothing
complicated about it.

Our time today is quite stressful and to release the stress, this technique works the best. I had started
taking painting lessons some 24 years ago to release the stress and have serene, quiet moments with the
source and I actually experienced that with the painting classes. Later on, when I learned this technique
while learning acrylic painting, it brought me more in depth feeling of helping others feel the same way
while creating art.

ART is the most important skill to have for anyone. Any art is good as it brings creativity to one’s
mind and soul. It brings tremendous peace to our life and I highly recommend this technique of art to
just about anyone.

Please visit www.Alkasdesigns.com for more information on this technique and thanks to Donna Dewberry
for bringing this to the world and helping thousands of people all across the globe to uplift their
soul and indulge in this art.

Magnolia

Let me provide informationabout different paints, sealers and mediums today. I have provided
general information about it and I would like to go in more details. By reading earlier
three blogs, you will see how easy it is to learn this technique and follow it for your
art work. It gets creative with every stroke.

Paints:Variety of paints include
1.Plaid folkart for fabric – one that can be applied for fabric with brush and the other is
with the tip, applied directly to the fabric.
2.Outdoor paints- They are made to withstand weather conditions and they contain sealer that
resist fading
3.Enamel paints- These are used for glass and metal surfaces and look beautiful when applied.
4.Folkart acrylic- can be used for many different surfaces like canvas, paper, even glass with medium.

Sealers

There are variety of sealers on the market and each one of them are designed to be used with a specific
products. When you seal the paintint, it lasts longer. They are available in either spray or brush -on
form. Apart from that, you have choices of finishes like glossy, satin and matte.
Mediums

There are more variety of mediums to use with your paints than you can imagine.

1. Floating medium to be used with folkart paints – This is opaque without paint in it.
2. Blending gel – This is more for blending and it will prevent dry edges. It also extends
the drying time without thinning the color.
3. Glazing medium – This also extends the drying time and make the paint transparent without
making it watery. It gives paint semi-glossy appearance.
4. Crackle medium – It gives aged look to the paint. Most of the artists use as a background
and as a base layer with dark color. Once it is dry paint is applied with lighter shade whic
produces great contrast.
5. Clear medium-It is used with enamel paints. It adds fluff to paint without adding pigment.

Visit: www.Alkasdesigns.com for more ideas.

Summer flowers

It is time to enjoy summer and outdoors and put your creative ideas to work.
As I discussed in the 2 previous blogs about this acrylinc painting technique
of One Stroke – you can put it to work for outdoor art.

There are many ways to use this art: for planter, mail box, welcome sign, outdoor
or indoor furniture, water can, boards etc. It can be used for kids as well as
adult parties. Everyone can enjoy the art and use it for their own decor. Folk art
paints are easy to obtain from the craft or hobby store. The flat brushes are easy
to use with soft bristles.There are folk art outdoor paints.These acrylic paints are
made to withstand the elements.They contain sealers that resists the fading caused by
sun light and other weather conditions.

The summer months bring lots of day light and it stays longer during the day so the
colors for paintings should be vibrant and bright. The yellows can be used with reds
to show the brightness and it shows well in summer months. Different shades of orange
shows very well.

Here’s and example of  vibrant yellow colors with reds. This is quite easy to paint. This

is painted on the canvas and I used water soluble oils. However, you can use folkart acrylic paints.

For vibrant colors and flowers visit:www.Alkasdesigns.com

Most of the brushes are flat brushes with more surface area and they use good amount
of paint which is opaque in nature as it is acrylic paint. Most of the time the brush
is loaded with double color and sometimes 3 colors. The effect that is produced by using
such colors is quite bright and vibrant on any surface.The folk art colors are used and
they are available online as well as in the arts and craft stores across the globe.They
are relatively inexpensive and with limited supply of brushes and paints one can produce
best results.

Any hobby is expensive and once involved, it can consume time and money. However, with this
One Stroke technique, one can limit oneself . If you fall in love with the
technique and master it, you can have your own business too. Teaching this technique is
great fun too.

Please visit www.Alkasdesigns.com for more information about the various paintings and objects
you can paint on and go through the albums to appreciate the paintings.

Unlike water color and oils, most of the brushes used are flat brushes and the loading of
the paint is with two colors or three depending on the art work. The handles of the brushes
are smaller and the control of the paint is better as one is painting with the flat part
of the brush. Besides flat, scruffy, filbert, angle,fan, feather and round brushes are used too.
In addition, variety of sponges can be used for backgrounds.

As far as the paints are concerned, the FolkArt are the best ones to use. They are inexpensive
and long lasting. There are variety of surfaces which can be used like: Canvas, Glass, Wood,
Metal, paper, china and more. Although Acrylic paint dries faster and one needs to work quickly
with the art work.

Most of the supplies can be ordered on line or from the arts and craft store.It is easy for anyone
to start and enjoy the many benefits by creating great art work. It is used for decorative art as
well as creating large projects on canvsses.

Please visit www.Alkasdesigns.com for more ideas and look at albums for your projects.

There are many other methods to work with and create a printing effect without the
commercial press. Some of you may have access to print making and those who do not
have access, can use objects like

1. Sponge (of various kind, even a household one would work)
2. Paint brush : Use a flat brush for special effects and experiment with other types
3. Use transfers for transferring if you have some patterns that you want to work with
4. Use water color with more water for transparent effect and more paint with opaque effect
5. Acrylic paint can be use widely with either watering down or thick paint for texture
6. Take impression with either sponge, brush, pre prepared plate, fabric with texture,
or any other object which has texture
7. Plastic mesh bags can be quite effective
Remembering the light and dark contrast, apply your paint according to your own theme either
on paper or canvas. Using archival glue – some liquitex products you can glue your fabric, paper,
or any other objects right on your surface.

Experimenting more with Mono print and collage can always bring great results and we
can enjoy those colors in the winter too. Winter brings its own charm and we can indulge
in different colors for that season.

Talking about creating plates for the mono type, it is used as a template if the printing
is done over and over using the same plate.A smooth surface plate free of scratches would
work just fine for the mono type or mono print.One can also use Plexiglas, a plastic plate
if you prefer. I do like to work with Plexiglas as it is light weight and easy to store.
One can etch the surface after cleaning it thoroughly with pointed object of desired lines
or art work. with pointed metal tip, your template or plate is permanent and can be used with your
paper or canvas for imprinting by applying various colors over it and taking the impression
of the design of the plate by pressing it hard on the paper or canvas.

Creating few plates and keeping it aside for later use can also be done. One can create
various designs like floral, animals, trees, leaves and more. When you want to develop
your large work or even master piece, the  prepared templates can be used over and over
again with various combination of designs for your landscape.

As you start experimenting with the technique, you will develop your personal style and
preference. As I mentioned in the first part, variety of papers (preferably archival for
final work and canvasses. For experimenting or working first time, you can use any paper
but, at least some thickness like card stock paper. This will hold your paint better.

Variety of materials can be used like metal plates, plastic plexiglas which is safer, wood
can be used once you get familiar with the technique and have more experience with it.
I have used paper, canvass and metal plate when I was experimentig with it years ago. There
is a press machine which can be used if you go to classes. They are professional quality and
use for large paper.

For mediums, water based paint or medium is best way to experiment. However, one can use
oil based mediums like oil based printing inks, oil paints, alkyds (oil based colors), acrylics,
water based oil paints and Couache.

The most simple way to tackle this technique is to mix the variety of colors, use some texture products
like nylon net with design, a plate with some design or a found object from home with design and
applying the color and pressing it on paper or canvas randomly and creating designs. One can also
use the combination 2-3 colors only with light and dark.