As artists, the materials we choose often shape our creative voice. When I started painting, I considered myself a devoted watercolourist – drawn to the soft translucency, delicate washes, and beautiful unpredictability of watercolours. But as my style evolved, so did my curiosity, and I found myself exploring the bold world of acrylics.
The journey from watercolour to acrylic has been one of experimentation, deep learning, and rediscovery.
These are some of my findings:
The Differences: Transparency vs Boldness
Watercolour is light and luminous. It’s a medium that celebrates transparency, where light passes through layers of paint and reflects off the paper, giving it a distinct glow. It demands a certain finesse – every stroke feels a bit more challenging, the flow of pigment and water is a skill to control, and mistakes can be harder to undo. You’re often working from light to dark, preserving the white of the paper to accentuate highlights.
Acrylic, on the other hand, calls for bold expression. It’s opaque, versatile, and somewhat more forgiving. You can layer endlessly – ideally working from dark to light – scrape back, rework, add texture, and keep building. Unlike watercolour’s quiet beauty, acrylics shout with vibrancy, presence, and texture. After endless hours of experimentation, I developed a technique that allows me to mimic the transparency of watercolours,
combined with the textural possibilities of acrylics.
The Similarities: Fluidity and Freedom
While their application differs, both watercolour and acrylic share a sense of immediacy. They dry quickly, allowing for a rhythmic, intuitive painting process. Both also offer incredible range once you understand how to harness them – whether you’re glazing with thin washes in watercolour or building texture with palette knives in acrylic. Another shared trait is their emotive quality. Watercolours can feel poetic and serene. Acrylics can be expressive and visceral. And both are deeply responsive to the artist’s hand and mood.
What I’ve Learned Along the Way
Transitioning from watercolour to acrylics showed me the value of embracing imperfection. Where watercolour taught me restraint and patience, acrylics encouraged fearlessness and experimentation. Combining the two (and often adding oil pastel, ink, or pencil) has opened a world where freedom meets intention.
I’ve learned that no medium defines you. Instead, your vision, your hand, and your curiosity are what make your art truly yours.
Falling in Love with Acrylics
After many product faux pas, there’s one acrylic product that truly transformed my practice: Iris Acrylics, bought at The Deckle Edge Art Shop. The texture, pigment, and finish of this proudly South African brand are unmatched. Whether layering thick, juicy strokes or mixing a subtle wash, Iris paints deliver consistent quality and rich saturation for
beautiful results. Iris Acrylics allow me to bridge the sensitivity of watercolour with the strength of acrylic, making them my go-to for painting everything from subtle washes to vibrant layers.
Final Thoughts
Don’t follow the rules. I certainly don’t. My artistic journey is far from linear – and that’s the beauty of it. Moving from watercolourist to mixed media artist hasn’t meant leaving one behind – it’s about building on a foundation and growing into something fuller and more expressive.
Play and explore. Make mistakes and mess up. Try different mediums, combine them, see what happens. Just take the leap and embrace the unknown. Your next artistic breakthrough might just be waiting on the other side of a new medium.
About the Author
Isabel Crause is a contemporary botanical artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. With a background in watercolour and a growing passion for mixed media, her work blends nature, emotion, and layered techniques to create abstract compositions that celebrate personal growth, resilience, and self-expression.
Isabel focuses mostly on original art and commissions for private clients, with works held in private collections in France, the UK, USA, Australia, Dubai, the Netherlands, and South Africa. Through her immersive painting workshops, Isabel is passionate about inspiring others to unlock their creative potential.
