the guy at the paint counter who told me acrylic was "cheating" because you can fix mistakes
Was picking up a new tube of titanium white today and this older gentleman starts chatting me up at the counter. I mentioned I paint in acrylic and he got this look on his face like I'd told him I color with crayons. Said, and I quote, "acrylic is a shortcut, you can just paint over anything and start again. Oil is real painting, watercolor is real painting. You can't hide in those."
And I just stood there holding my six dollar tube of paint like a child who got scolded at school. I should have said something. I've been painting for six years, I sell the odd piece, I put in real hours. But I just nodded and paid and left.
Here's the thing though. The "you can fix mistakes" argument gets me every time because it makes it sound like the fixing is free. Like I haven't spent whole evenings scraping off a sky that refused to work or layering the same green seven ways until it finally looked like grass instead of swamp. Fixing a mistake in acrylic is still two hours of work, it just doesn't require a respirator and a month of drying time.
Anyway. I don't know why this one got to me. Maybe because I'm tired. Maybe because I've heard some version of it a dozen times and it never gets less annoying. My painting is mine and it doesn't need a gatekeeper's blessing. But man, I wish I'd said something smarter than standing there with my mouth shut.
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Six years in and you already know better than to argue with that type. You can't win, because the premise isn't about paint. It's about his need to feel like his way is harder than your way.
Here's the thing, though. I work in oil and cold wax, and I've spent thirty years scraping back and repainting the same surface. Oil isn't some unforgiving interrogator, no matter what the shop philosophers tell you. It's just a different kind of slow. And acrylic? Acrylic has its own discipline. It dries fast, it has no patience, you have to commit in a different register. That's not easier, it's just a different nerve.
Honestly, the "cheating" argument is always about material hierarchy, and material hierarchy is how insecure old men prop themselves up at hardware counters. You were there buying paint. That's the answer. You showed up. He's still standing at the counter having opinions.
"it's about his need to feel like his way is harder than your way" YES. That's exactly it and I couldn't put words to it standing there like a lemon. I've had the fast-drying thing be a real strength honestly. I patch things in all the time, but I've also ruined plenty of paintings by being too hasty and impatient with a sky or a wash. Different discipline is the right way to put it. Thanks for this, genuinely. Thirty years scraping back and repainting sounds like its own kind of determination!