Color Wheel

I have never worked with paint. I think the only thing I’ve ever used a paintbrush for was gel medium and fooling around with the chemicals in the darkroom. When I was buying the supplies I was kind of shocked at the different paints. I mean I assumed there were a lot of different kinds and colors, but to actually sorting through the odd names and ‘soft body’ or ‘liquid’ or whatever other kinds they had was crazy.
The biggest surprise to me was that the acrylic colors don’t mix perfectly. The green turned out fine, but I had always assumed if you mixed blue and red it would be the right shade of purple. Also, it dried so quickly I wonder how anyone is really able to paint with just acrylic. After class I talked with my Aunt (who is a fine artist) and she described to me how acrylics don’t mix well and how it’s usually best to use oils. She also told me how it’s easier with oils since you can always come back to the painting. I had never really thought down and thought about how frustrating it must be to paint with acrylics. I’m just glad I’m photojournalism and not a fine artist. I make too many mistakes, I’d rather waste photo paper than have to restart an entire painting because something didn’t blend or it dried too quickly.