Acrylic Painting on Paper

Picacho Peak
Acrylic on Arches Paper
12 x 3.5 in/30 x 9 cm (image size)
Copyright Byrne Smith 2017

Well, I decided to spend some of my painting time this week working in acrylic on watercolor paper, Arches 140 lb/300 g/m2 paper to be exact. The great weight, texture, and finish of this product make it perfect for painting with acrylics as if they were watercolor.

I also decided to paint two of my favorite subjects: panoramic landscapes and New Mexico, this of Picacho Peak near Las Cruces in the southern part of the state.

If you haven't tried acrylic on watercolor paper yet, especially Arches, you should. You're in for a painterly treat!

A Landscape for the Summer Season

West of Roswell
Acrylic on Board
24 x 24 in/61 x 61 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2017

Sometime during the day today or tomorrow will be the "official" start of summer in the northern hemisphere. On that happy occasion, I thought I'd post one of my latest paintings.

It's a summery landscape of a scene in the southwestern US state of New Mexico. As a former resident of the Land of Enchantment, I can tell you there is a lot of beautiful scenery to paint there.

I hope you enjoy my work, and a  happy summer to you.

A Still Life for the Summer Season

The Kitchen Window
Oil on Board
24 x 24 in/61 x 61 cm
Copyright Byrne Smith 2017

I don't typically paint still lifes. It's not that I dislike still lifes, I really do like them, especially many painted by the Impressionists.

I just don't paint them very often, probably because I don't put enough thought into what I would paint. I'm also not very good at planning ahead so that I don't have any (or many) items on hand that would lend themselves to a good still life painting.

That being the case, I pretty much made up this painting in my head about what would make a good still life. I used several reference photos of lemons that I grouped together, but the rest was imagined. That includes the tabletop, the wallpaper, and the kitchen window with the unremarkable view--they don't exist anywhere but my mind.

I like the results, and that's all that really matters to me. I hope you do, too.