Cheap Paint Frustrates

I still struggle with the cheap acrylic paint Action sells. The brand is Van Bleiswijck. It's strange how thevquality dropped in the past years. I assume more water is added to it and who knows something to bind although I doubt it's cornstarch.

Last week Wednesday I joined a painting class. It was low budget. Though the teacher was extremely happy to see me and excused herself for what she planned (don't ask) I did lean something and it was good to paint in company of Indonesian and Dutch people. It was merely switch out the brain, just do while the music played.

I expected more, thought I could fill at least one large canvas, but ended up with a dry-painted flower, leaf and small branch that I glued (the paint was still wet) between the folded paper (there was no need to glue it, contrary to what I was told).

I collected leaves and put them between my scrapbook and put a big, heavy art book on top. Let's see how long it takes them to dry.

Yesterday I painted what I just did and it took the entire day till I decided to give up and put the canvas out of sight (the basement). I liked the purple I mixed (with the cheap paint with not too much pigment), and to be fair the background was the best. I should have not painted anything on it. What I saw was interesting enough.

No matter the colour due to a lack of pigment nearly all colours are transparent. Still, it must be able to achieve some results with cheaper paint if I use some tricks.
Mixing coulours is possible but the titanium white is 👎🏼 Even after 5 layers it still shows pink. The same counts for the gesso (same brand).

You don't need ten brushes.
I used a flat one for the background (I ran out of sponges) and the one you see above. As you can see, the size is abracadabra. The largest one (Van Bleiswijck) is #9 and the smaller one (Van Eijck) is #18.
The smallest #1 is stiff and not great to paint with. When it comes to brushes, I prefer to paint everything with the same large flat brush (#18).

N.B. I admit it's not varnished to brighten the colours. Unlike what is said the acrylic paint dries slow (it was the first time I used a hairdryer) and it doesn't shine. It gives the impression of poster paint (I go try that one to see if there's a difference).
I didn't felt too much adding the finishing touch. I guess I received the answers and who knows curiosity did kill the cat.
If white is needed it's wiser to buy a better brand. I will use what I have to mix colours. I noticed yesterday that Van Bleiswijck titanium white doesn't show the same white in the tubes I have. One is more beige.

_{2.11.25
Used: flat brushes 3 cm, thin flat: #18, #9, #1
Paint: acrylic Van Bleiswijck - black - magenta + sky blue to mix purple.
Paint: acrylic Avec - white + marine blue
Canvas: Van Bleiswijck - 21 * 21 cm}