Awhile back my boyfriend and I tried following Bob Ross and created winter scenes with oil paints.  If you would like to see how this went, then check it out here.  My boyfriend picked this activity and paint median.  It was fun trying the oil paints, which I had never worked with before, but I was more interested in trying something with a bit more texture to it.  I had always wanted to try a painting with lots of texture to it.  So, this time it was my turn to pick our painting median. After some research I decided to use thick acrylic paint for our paintings.   I typically use acrylic paints in my projects, and it seemed to create a lot of texture to paintings when a thickening gel is added to the paints.  We decided to purchase Liquitex acrylic paint, the basics, since we were both beginners at this median.  I have several acrylic paints, but I thought these were a bit to liquidy for this type of painting.  The Liquitex acrylic paint was a thicker paint already.  We then purchased Liquitex gloss gel, medium to thicken our paints even more.  We decided to only go with the medium since we were beginners and did not want it to be too thick especially for our first time trying this method.  I think these options worked out great for us.  We took each of our colors of choice and mixed it with the Liquitex gloss gel before starting our paintings.  The thickness was similar to the oil paints we had done earlier.  We used the same spatulas and brushed we purchased for the oil paints.  Check out this link for a list of supplies we purchased for the oil paintings.  It is listed at the bottom of the post.   During the oil painting I mostly used the brushes, but for this thick acrylic painting I mostly used the spatulas.  I seemed to understand how to properly use the spatulas (or at least how they seemed to work best for me) after working on this painting.   

Like in the oil painting our “art studio” was a bit thrown together.  It consisted of small tray tables covered in blue tarps for protection. We also used small tote lids as our paint pallets.  After doing these paintings we found a nice portable easel on sale, which we purchased for my boyfriend.  He is eager to do more oil paintings and wanted a better set up to work on.   

I enjoyed doing the oil paintings, but I think I liked working with the textured acrylic paint better.  I liked the end result better, and all the texture that stayed even after it dried.  I plan to do another painting with this paint in the future.  For my next painting, I will try to add even more texture to it.  My boyfriend liked working with the oil paints better.  So, when we paint again, he may do his in oil paint as I do mine in the acrylic paint.  We also had different artist we were basing our paintings of off.  Both paintings are a little abstract, but still very different.  It has been fun trying different median neither of us were comfortable with or knew what exactly we were doing.  I was surprised both times how well the paintings turned out.  You never know until you try something.  So, do not be afraid to try something new.  It might not always turn out perfect, but you can always learn from it and keep growing.  This week I tried two new things.  One turned out great and the other not so much, but I had fun and learned from both.  If you missed my not so great pumpkin, then check it out here.   

Here are two links to the paint and gloss gel to thicken the paints we used. They are my affiliate links, which means I may get a small amount of the procets at no extra cost to you. This helps support my website and allow me to continue to post new projects for you. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy the paints in a pack depending on the colors you need.