I love color. Today's sketchbook practice feels so free and fun and luscious and a little weird and uncomfortable at the same time. Part of me feels like this is a very messy badly painted portrait, with unblended and sloppy edges. But another part of me loves the bright colors and the combination of thick and thin paint. It's definitely not boring or expected.
And compare how much this portrait changed from what I did last night.
I practice laying muted dark colors of acrylic paint first: Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Naples Yellow. Then gradually introduced wilder colors - Quinacradone Magenta, Magenta, Cerulean Blue, Medium Violet, and white to increase the color saturation and the value.
I tried a couple of different brush shapes and sizes - brights, filters, rounds. I prefer using the brights to chisel the larger planes of the face and using small rounds for details in the eyes, nose, and mouth. I also mixed a black this time using Burnt Umber, Cerulean Blue and Quin Magenta.
The mixed media paper in my Strathmore Visual Journal absorbed so much water and paint, I felt like I had to consciously add thicker saturated layers of paint to make it stay true to the color instead of fading into a duller version of itself. Acrylic paint noticeably dries so faster than the gouache and it doesn't reactivate after its dry. If you want to fix something, you can add another layer of paint to cover it up.
I will try some other substrates - canvas, wood panel, hardboard and see how I feel. I think that building up the layers will work better for me if I use a harder surface.