I started painting seriously in 2023 after setting up a small studio in my office at home. My first paintings were on paper made for oil or acrylic painting, mostly 9” x 12.” I switched to 12” x 16” in August of 2024, and canvas in October - I’ll probably stick with this size canvas for quite a while, until I feel confident enough to try larger sizes. I’ll also have to reorganize my studio to accommodate the larger canvases - argh!

For acrylics I’m using Golden Heavy Body acrylics, finishing with Golden Open acrylics. For oils I use CAS Alkyd Pro fast-drying oil paints. The reason I use these media is that I like to work fast and both are fast drying. The acrylics of course dry almost immediately, except for the final layers of Open Acrylics, which become touch dry overnight. The CAS alkyds dry a little slower than acrylics, but they still dry to the touch overnight. I have tried some wet-into-wet oil techniques and it’s starting to make sense. Eventually I want to be able to create a painting in one session, or alla prima.