Part 1 Be inspired by the contents of your kitchen cupboard as you paint still lifes in acrylics with Rodney Kingston

Rodney Kingston

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

■ Use the art of suggestion, not detail

■ Practise acrylic techniques without using mediums

Fry Sauce , acrylic on paper, 10x8in. (25.5x20.5cm). I chose half empty jars as I liked the effect of the residue of sauces on the inside of the glass. The area of the ketchup bottle with sauce residue and the displaced label of the mayonnaise showing through the glass was a particularly enjoyable part of the painting.

Acrylic is a wonderful medium, as it offers such versatility in terms of application. Whether you slap your colours down on the surface, nice and thick, and push the paint around with sturdy brushes, or dilute with water and build delicate layers of thin washes, acrylics handle either method successfully. Most of the time I prefer the first approach, using the paint as it comes straight from the tube with no mediums.

Although the majority of my work is painted using oils, it is refreshing to switch to acrylics for the huge difference in drying time. Acrylic paints dry so much quicker than oils, which makes correcting mistakes a swift task. When I’m not happy with a particular area of a painting, I just work on another part and wait a few minutes before painting over the top of the problem area. Apart from yellow, all the colours I use on my palette are opaque when applied to the surface so painting over mistakes and building layers are easy. If I need to make them transparent, I just add water.