I’m a visual artist before anything. In fact, I’m just a little visual student disguising themself as a junior literary student. When it comes to being a visual artist, we have a multitude of ways to make our art. Similar to writers being able to make their art through creating poetry, short stories, or novels, artists are able to create their art through different paints and art supplies, or what we call art mediums. Even though I have tried a multitude of mediums, I have yet to try most of them. However, here are my favorite art mediums so far.
Acrylic
Acrylic is the medium I’ve worked the most in. It is a fast drying paint that is very commonly used. Even if you are not a painter, you probably have used acrylic paint at some point in your life. People most commonly see acrylic paint as the Apple Barrel paint that kids use. I like acrylic due to its cheap cost and fast drying time. The fast-drying cuts down on wait time and helps me get my pieces done more quickly. Overall, it’s a very efficient and convenient paint to use.
Gouache
Gouache is a medium that I have only been using for the past few months. I’ve known about this medium for a long time but have only gotten my hands on it this past Christmas. If I had to describe gouache, I’d say it is a mix of acrylic and watercolor. It’s a bright paint that goes down very opaque, similar to acrylic. However, unlike acrylic, you can water down gouache and use them like watercolor. I usually water down the gouache first and use it as a base, then lay down more opaque layers as I go. My favorite thing about this medium would be how you can rewet the paint. With paints like acrylic, once it dries, you can use the paint again, but with paints like watercolor and gouache, you can apply water to the pigment and keep using it.
Oil
I have a love hate relationship with oil paint. On one hand I love the results of the painting, how you can make it as loose or as refined as you need, and how it takes a long time to dry so you can continue to work however long you need. On the other hand, the paint is impossible to get off of any surface, it can be so expensive, and due to it taking so long to dry, the paint is constantly wet and can get everywhere. This past semester I’m learning to love oil. I’ve done a couple of paintings in oil and I feel vastly more confident in my ability to use it. Something about painting with it is so addicting. However, the slow drying time is not a good asset for art school assignments, so I will have to use it for my own personal use.
It was interesting to read and see what you like as a visual
I LOVE ACRYLIC PAINT! I use it to design clothes and it allows people to wash the clothing without it coming off.
oil is definitely my favorite; i’ve made some cool pieces using it
I have a lot of acrylic paints that I use often, and I’ve been wanting to try using oil paints. I appreciate that this was somewhat of a heads-up of what I can expect if I ever get oil paints