Mary Valente's

Lagoon  5x7" click to enlarge

This, like the geraniums in the window (last post) are works on paper. They're done mixing acrylic and lots of water - very loose, building texture in wet layers rather than loading the dry brush with thick paint.  Before painting like this, you need to apply 3 coats of protective gesso to create a good barrier between the water/paint solution and the archival paper. Also, the more water one adds to acrylic paint, the duller it looks when dry...but then you give it a coat of varnish and voila! all that brilliant paint color that was there when wet reappears.  And what's cool, you can either use art product varnish ....or just regular ol' boat varnish..which will make your piece last for eons!