I would love to paint in acrylics but the paint dries to fast, what am I doing wrong?
How do you prepare your canvas for painting?
How do you prepare your watercolor paper?
What type of watercolor paper do you recommend?
What type of brushes do I need for watercolor painting?
How do I keep my acrylics from drying on my pallet for later use?
My kids loves to draw, what should I purchase to get them started?

Do you have an art related question?
Please feel free to send your question to jose@rodriguezart.com

I would love to paint in acrylics but the paint dries to fast, what am I doing wrong?
In order to prolong the drying of acrylic paints, while in the painting session, I recommend using a spray bottle to spray over your pallet. I do this regularly while painting. You must make it a habit to pick up the spray bottle and spray your pallet regularly. You must do this in order to keep your paints from drying too fast. My preference is a quart size bottle. Note: the spray nozzle should be adjusted to spray a fine mist.

How do you prepare your canvas for painting?
I buy my canvases already stretched, primed and ready to paint. (Fredrix) is my only choice. However, I like to put on a neutral base before painting on it. Whether I am painting in acrylics or oils, I use a mixture of burnt sienna, yellow ochre (oxide) and raw umber for my base. It's alot easier on the eyes when you are painting on an earth tone canvas than a stark white one. This step helps prevent white specks of the canvas peeking through your finished beautiful painting.

How do you prepare your watercolor paper?
Watercolor paper comes in three different textures; rough, cold-press, and hot-press. I use 140lb. (Arches) cold-press for all my watercolors, therefore I don't wet and pre-stretch my paper before painting. However, I do tape my paper on all sides to a 1/2" lightweight board that will accommodate the paper size. I make sure to come in on the watercolor paper about 1/2" to 3/4" using 3M 2" masking tape.

What type of watercolor paper do you recommend?
I recommend a good non-student grade paper (Arches) for example. You get better results with these more expensive papers and are more likely to stick with the learning process than getting bad results with student grade and being frustrated. 140lb cold-press is my favorite paper of choice. Watercolor paper comes in loose sheets so you can experiment with all three different textures.

What type of brushes do I need for watercolor?
I say get the best brushes you can afford. Besides the importance of the paper choice, your brushes play a major roll in a painting. Too many times students want to buy craft brushes from a hardware store and think they can get by. Wrong!, I say start off with three (rounds sizes 6, 8 and 10) very good seamless ferrel watercolor brushes. Sable blends work fine. I prefer Kolinsky hair brushes. Good art stores will let you test the brushes (in water). A good brush filled with water should come to a point and always bounce back to shape after applying it to a surface.

I still have leftover acrylic paint on my pallet. How do I store it for later use?
I use a Masterson stay-wet pallet box. It comes in a size about 12"x16" and comes with disposable pallet sheets inside. The box has a tight seal to store your paints for the next painting session. Before I seal the box I make sure I spray the paints with my water bottle and then I'm sure my paints will remain wet until the next use. I've had paints stay moist in this box for as long as a week.

My kids love to draw, what should I purchase to get them started?
I recommend getting a good drawing board, Strathmore drawing paper, white Staedtler eraser and a #2 pencil for starters. The drawing board I use is a 18"x24" drafting board with metal edges on two sides. Take a loose sheet of paper from the paper pad and tape it to the board. A small piece of tape on each corner of the paper is enough to hold the drawing paper steady. This will give you a strong still surface that can be turned around while drawing.