wso fix ups for acrylic paintings

I have a couple of acrylic paintings that I've been tempted to gesso over so I can reuse the canvases, but s few of my friends and family have ordered me to stop doing that. So I decided to paint over them with water soluble oils instead, to see if I can fix them. This first one was an easy fix - I like it, but it's dull and kind of boring. My friend told me the problem was colour perspective - my front tones were too much the same as my back ones - there wasn't enough depth.

This is the fixed version. I actually did very little - just a light wash on the foreground grass - i used artisan cad yellow light with a touch of prussian blue and a touch of walnut oil, keeping it stronger in the very front of the painting. After that I scumbled some titanium white over the little spit of grass and the distant hills. So in the end, this painting is still mostly acrylic wih a little wso. I think it would not have worked so well if I had used an acrylic glaze on the grass - it would have gone all patchy.

Sofie Your painting is beautiful! What a great idea!

I like the improvements in color and tonal difference. The glazing was a perfect choice.
Judy

Wow!! What a difference a glaze makes.

Dayle

Thanks everybody. It's nice to be able to save them occasionally.

This is another plein air painting I did that I wasn't happy with. I think it's partly the water colour feeling it has, and a values problem. The light part of the river should really be in the shade. I would have painted over it sooner, but people really liked it and I almost sold it twice. A good candidate for painting over in WSOs.

I forgot to say that this is a 12x16 canvas. This time I repainted the entire painting, not changing the composition, just the colours and the values. Now it looks like a warm summer day, looking out on the river from the comforting shade of the trees. The colours are so much stronger, I might have to change the name because I had called it Summer Serenity before.

I like the stronger colors. It definitely warmed it up even though the colors are mainly cool one. Nice work.

Judy

That's great, Sofie. The color changes really punch this up - now the previous version looks unfinished! Very, very nice

I love the changes - and the water is such a beautiful peaceful green

Thanks everyone. Water is really my nemesis - I have so much trouble with it. I guess I should make myself paint it everyday

Why not try water with the palette knife. Then it would be easy when you did it with the brush. Judy

I can only torture myself so much . . .

Thought you'd get a good laugh. Judy

Sofie Wow! I love the new version! The colors are wonderful!

Oh Sophie - it breaks my heart to hear that water is your nemesis when I want to paint, paint, paint water. I am determined to learn how to do it well, at least better than i did each painting before.

I thoroughly enjoyed the before and afters. I think that would make a great section here on it's own.

Dale - if I could paint water like you can it would not be my nemesis.