The Masterclass is in the English language.

Goodbye to oil paint!
I’m glad in 1998 I decided to say goodbye to oil paint and to continue painting only in acrylics. In hindsight, that is actually quite logical. Acrylic paint is a water-soluble type of paint, which can be used with similar immediacy to drawing, and is related to watercolour or tempera, with which I was very experienced. Thanks to the water, the paint flows from a paint brush, which is not the case with oil paint, heavy bodied mass. And, last but not least, acrylic paint dries wonderfully fast, which makes it possible to continue working on the same painting without delay. With colleagues, supporters and opponents of the various types of paint, I have had many discussions.

Two types of artists
Broadly speaking there are two types of artists: those who want to work with the picturesque choose oil; and those who like a drawing like result prefer acrylic. One is not better than the other. It is a difference in character, in mentality. 

Layers in acrylic
In the story of the oil technique I told all about the smart way of painting that was developed in earlier centuries: the decomposition of the problems in successive layers. Painting in one layer only (wet-on-wet or ‘alla prima’) brings with it many problems that require solving simultaneously. Loose brushstrokes should not only express the colour, but also the form, thereby additionally representing light and dark. Form, light and dark, colour, are also separable.

From the Renaissance to Impressionism a style of painting was developed, in which these problems, as it were, were divided into layers, and could be resolved step by step: one layer for the form, one layer for light and dark and one or more layers for the colour. This method of construction was clever and very effective. This ancient technique remains usable in contemporary realism and translatable in acrylics!

The Masterclass video clips comes with a digital study book.

Poen de Wijs,
Your teacher