Learning How to Paint with Acrylics

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Make with Paint and DecoArt, but all opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Learn how to paint with acrylics with easy video art lessons from the Society of Decorative Painters’ “Make with Paint,” program, featuring projects with a modern twist. You’ll have so much fun learning acrylic painting techniques online at home and creating one-of-a-kind artwork.

We have a lot of creative people in my family. Actors, sculptors, singers, dancers, writers and painters, by profession and by hobby. I like to think my Grandma Mills fired the creative spark in all of us, partly with genetics and partly with her passion for painting.

(We also clearly shared a love of pink! That’s me, as an infant, in Grandma’s lap!)

I loved visiting Grandma’s house and seeing the latest work on her easel. She painted portraits of all of her children, as well as landscapes, florals and other still lifes. Grandma was mostly self-taught, but she also learned from watching painting shows on television.

While I’m crafty and creative and good with a brush when it comes to furniture painting, I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint artistically like my grandma.

So, I was thrilled to try out the Society of Decorative Painters new “Make with Paint” series taught by Lucy Akins of Craftberry Bush. If you read Lucy’s blog, you know she’s an amazing artist. While I didn’t doubt her skills as a teacher, I did doubt that I would be able to replicate her paintings.

But I was quite pleased with what I was able to accomplish in just three lessons, and I’m excited to practice the skills I learned.

Each Make with Paint Kit comes with everything you need to complete three decorative painting projects — DecoArt Americana acrylic paint, paint brushes, tracing paper, patterns, written instructions, paper and other surfaces.

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(Be sure to enter to win Lucy’s new Make with Paint kit and video series at the end of this post.)

In the videos, Lucy walks you step-by-step through the process of creating each painting. She also teaches you a variety of acrylic painting techniques, like mixing custom colors, creating a wash, adding dimension with brush strokes, creating shadows and adding highlights. With each painting, you get the chance to practice the techniques you learned in each video.

The first project is a painting of a flamingo. I started out by tracing the image onto watercolor paper then followed along as Lucy showed me how to paint with acrylics to bring him to life!

He found a new home in our coastal guest bedroom.

For the next lesson, we moved onto a cockatoo.

I streamed the videos on my iPad while I painted at our kitchen table. It probably took me about an hour to finish the cockatoo. When is the last time you took an hour to learn something new and to be creative?

I love how this painting turned out. I’ve tried watercolors before, and have never been satisfied with the finished piece. But acrylic paint is much more forgiving and easier for beginners, in my opinion. In her videos, Lucy shows you how to paint with acrylics and achieve that watercolor look.

He might be my favorite.

Our final class project was this colorful toucan.

I was intimated at first by the detail and bold colors for this project. But now that it’s finished, I want to paint him again!

And I want to do more paintings on different colored backgrounds, like this kraft paper journal.

I love how the vibrant DecoArt colors pop against the brown background. I’m planning on using this book as an art journal to practice the acrylic painting techniques I learned in the Make with Paint classes.

If you’ve always wanted to learn how to paint with acrylics or if you just need a relaxing creative outlet, you should definitely check out the Make with Paint classes. If you purchase a Make with Paint kit and video series together, you can save 25 percent using the promo code AMY25. This code is exclusively for Atta Girl Says readers!

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And don’t forget to enter the giveaway below to win a Make with Paint kit so you can learn how to paint with acrylics.

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And before I sign off, I wanted to share some of my grandma’s artwork with you.

I wish she was still around so we could paint together. She would have loved these Make with Paint kits and videos.