Creating Smart Systems with Your Paints with Vicki McGrath
There is absolutely nothing wrong working across several different media.
But if you’re going to be switching from watercolor to acrylic to oil to gouache (or any combination therein) Vicki McGrath (Ep.84) says there’s definitely a way to make it easier.
McGrath works across gouache, watercolor and acrylic. She’s even adding oil into the mix. And no matter which medium she’s working in, she absolutely makes sure she lays out her pigments the same each time.
For example, she will always have a warm yellow and a cool yellow. While the specific pigments may be different between acrylic and oil, the warm yellow will sit in a uniform spot and the cool yellow will sit in a uniform spot.
Same for all the rainbow of colors across her gouache palette, her oil palette, and her acrylic palette.
Put it to Practice:
The more muscle memory you can create in your process the better.
Muscle memory means you don’t have to hunt down your cool yellow… because it’s always in the same spot.
When you have a set place for each color and then you use that same system across your different media, you’re making your painting process more efficient. This means it’s also less mentally taxing where it doesn't need to be.
You'll save time and learn to mix faster. And bonus, you can use the saved energy to focus on more important things in your painting process.