It has been a pleasure although a challenging one, to work in acrylics to express my ideas.  After an inspiring trip to the Sea of Cortez  after the dreary taking a break from the grey of winter in the North.  I think I understand why Mexican art is so colorful.  It must be the light at the Tropic of Cancer.  I look forward to spending more time there to discover why else the house are so colorful and the culture is as spicy as its food.

Sea of Cortez, 12x24, acrylic, Available, email; gcaudell@msn.com

Working with acrylics has been daunting although once I've found the right process I'm excited to pursue more work.  It has it's detractions but it has attributes that oils don't allow.  I especially like how fast it dries so one can proceed with the next part of the process.  It's also less toxic than oils and their solvents.  Something that is problematic in the closed space of my studio, even with an exhaust fan.  I like large washes to achieve effects although I like working impasto en plein air, I have yet to develop a good impasto technique in acrylics but have alot of exploration to do with achieving new effects with acrylic mediums.

My 50 year reluctance to using acrylics has been a dedication to the heritage of art history bias that "important" paintings are oil paintings.  I see now how rediculous that prejudice is especially with the advent of digital art, something like how the artists of the 1800's felt about painting when photography came along.  Today there is a question whether digital art is art.  Of course it is, art is the expression of ideas by mark making.  I doesn't matter if that mark was made by a stone age artist or a person or machine using "code" to generate an image.  Fear of change is fatal.