Poppies in Acrylic

A while ago I came across some long forgotten tubes of acrylic in one of my drawers. Although they were well over 20 years old, amazingly, they yielded to a gentle squeeze and I resolved to give them a try. They are Winsor & Newton Artist Quality, I remember someone giving them to me claiming that they were "horrible" to use. Had I known at the time that thinning them with turps was not a good idea, I would have told him!!  I recently broadened my palette range with some much cheaper Daler System 3 colours which seem to inter-mix with no problems and, fuelled by some encouragement from Christiane Kingsley (do visit her blog if you haven't already), I dived in. This took about 4 hours in total, that's from making the canvas board to signing it as finished. I enjoyed working with solid colour and slapping it on in places and I will do some more but, it wont replace my watercolours, I'm far too much in love with that particular medium!! This is all I've managed to produce over a difficult few weeks, it's a first attempt and, as with any new medium, there is a lot to learn.  I'm going into hospital tomorrow and will be"off line" for a short time. I'm saying this because I really appreciate people visiting my blog and am very, very grateful for any comments, so much so that I always acknowledge them as soon as I can. It wont be possible for me to do so as quickly after tomorrow but I will catch up I promise!! Likewise, I will be doing a lot of visiting when I get home!!  Acrylic on MDF board covered with butter muslin.