Nova Color Key Brushstrokes:
- Seven easy acrylic painting ideas that build skill, texture, and control.
- Use washes, underpainting, and glazing to create depth and tone.
- Try palette knife and pouring techniques for bold, modern effects.
- Control drying with mediums; adjust paint body for smooth or texture results.
- Simple steps suited for beginners yet refined enough for professional work.
Acrylics remain one of the most flexible and forgiving mediums in art. With so many creative methods online, beginners often don’t know where to start. The techniques below emphasize fundamentals that grow both skill and assurance at the easel, during a project, and beyond.
Here are seven easy acrylic painting ideas and techniques that work when paired with professional-grade color and medium systems. Each builds core control while encouraging intuitive exploration.
1. Background Washes: Build Tone and Mood
A background wash instantly unifies your composition. Mix fluid or soft-body acrylic (a smoother, more fluid paint that levels effortlessly for blending) with a little water and matte medium for durability.
Brush on long, even strokes, letting gravity pull subtle variations across the surface. For layered effects, allow each pass to dry completely before glazing another color over it. A warm wash under cool hues gives natural depth without extra effort.
2. Wet-on-wet Blending: Softer Transitions
Traditional wet-on-wet methods work differently in acrylic than in oil because of faster drying. Extend open time by brushing a thin layer of slow-dry or “open” medium onto the surface before applying your paint.
Blend two neighboring colors with a clean, damp brush, crossing the seam lightly to create soft skies, misty reflections, or gradual shifts. Keep a fine mister bottle handy if you can, just a hint of water can maintain the slip (that’s the smooth glide of wet paint across the surface you’re painting) without breaking paint strength.
3. Underpainting for Structure
Underpainting gives your project or art a solid foundation of light and dark before you commit to full color. Start by mixing a neutral shade like burnt umber for warmth or ultramarine for coolness with very little water and a bit of medium to make it flow easily.
With this thinned paint, sketch your main shapes directly onto the surface, marking where the light and shadows will fall. Keep your brushwork loose and broad, focusing more on the value rather than any detail. Let the layer dry completely, then paint your colors over it.
This underpainting step is a foundational and easy acrylic painting idea on canvas that builds depth and structure.
4. Dry Brushing: Texture on the Surface
Dry brushing highlights raised texture or adds a weathered effect. Use heavy-body acrylic (a thick, buttery-paint consistency that holds brush or knife texture for bold, raised strokes) on a dry, stiff-bristled brush and wipe most of the paint off before touching the canvas. Lightly drag the brush across textured gesso or modeling-paste ground so only the high points capture the color.
This is perfect for grass, woodgrain, or worn patina effects. Try alternating matte and gloss paints for extra visual interest under studio lighting.
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5. Palette Knife Layering: Bold, Simple Shapes
For bold strokes and sculptural texture, trade your brush for a palette knife or recycled plastic/silicone wedge. If your paint isn’t naturally thick, mix in a small amount of texture paste or mediums that work for you.
Load the flat edge of your chosen tool with thick paint, then spread it across the surface in one smooth motion, almost like frosting a cake. Lift the end of each stroke to leave raised, solid shapes of color. While the paint is still wet, drag the clean edge or knife lightly through those areas to reveal bits of the layer beneath—a technique called sgraffito.
Try keeping your palette to three colors plus white for harmony and let your edge marks build natural depth and energy. This is a fast, expressive, hard-to-overthink approach and one of the easy painting ideas with acrylic paint for a statement textured piece.
6. Pouring & Easy Cells: Fun Abstraction
Pouring has evolved so much since the early 2020s; today’s artists favor controlled marbling with professional pouring mediums instead of silicone additives. Here’s a technique that combines fluid acrylics with pouring medium until they flow like cream.
Layer several paint colors in a cup, flip it, and tilt it gently until organic cells and rivers of color appear. The secret to good flow is your paint density.
Heavier colors sink, lighter rise—so experiment in small pours before a full surface or canvas. Remember to always seal a pour project with gesso before the paint to prevent patchy absorption, and after it fully dries with a protectant or varnish if it will be handled.
7. Controlled Splatters & Masking: Controlled Mayhem
Acrylic splatter works best when motion is met with intention. Cover any areas you want to keep free of paint—such as a figure, skyline, or bright highlight—with low-tack tape or frisket film (masking liquid).
Thin the paint color you want to use slightly so it flicks from the end of a brush or old toothbrush without dripping. Load your brush, then pull the bristles back with your thumb or tap another brush handle against the tool to release the paint.
For a fine mist, hold a mesh screen, like an old kitchen strainer, between the brush and the surface.
Let the splatter dry until it is just tacky (not fully dry, not wet) and peel away the masking slowly. Removing the tape or liquid too quickly or too late can lift paint or leave uneven borders.
This technique adds wonderful spontaneity while protecting and showcasing your composition’s balance.
Try One of These Tonight:
- Tone a surface with a warm background wash.
- Blend a sky or gradient using wet-on-wet or dry-brush techniques.
- Knife or edge in shapes with heavy-body paint with texture.
- Add depth by glazing cool shadows and warm highlights.
- Finish a piece with masked splatters.
Each of these techniques can teach timing. When to let the paint rest, when to re-enter, and how mediums change your paint’s behavior. The more you practice and play, the more acrylics will feel like an extension of your hand rather than a race against drying time.
From Practice to Painting
Mastering these easy acrylic canvas painting ideas (or a surface you prefer), gives you a foundation you can revisit anytime. They answer the questions many beginners ask—is acrylic painting easy? It can be, once you understand how each layer, texture, and medium works together. These are simple techniques with professional results, whether you’re painting in a classroom, studio, or a kitchen corner with great light.
Nova Color Tip: Always work with artist-grade acrylics, modeling and texture paste, and other gels and mediums that fit your approach. Fluid for flow, heavy-body for structure, glazing or slow-dry mediums for smooth blends. Materials built for artists by artists make every experiment more predictable and rewarding.
And when you’re ready to add a new shade or restock, explore our colors and mediums made to keep up with your hand and your ideas.
