Blending Acrylic Paint (Wet on Wet Techniques)

Blending acrylic paint can completely transform your artwork, whether you are painting large abstract backgrounds or tiny details on a portrait. In this article, I am sharing my favorite ways to blend acrylic paint so you can get smooth transitions and beautiful color mixes in any part of your painting. You can watch the full video right here on this page to see the techniques in action. I also have a free Acrylic Painting Supply List you can download to make gathering your materials easier.

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Using the Classic Brush Blend

One of the most well known ways to blend acrylic paint is to place two colors side by side, then use a clean, slightly damp brush to blend them together. You can make cross strokes or go back and forth horizontally to soften the edge where the colors meet. The key is to have enough paint on the canvas so you can work the colors together before they dry.

While this is a dependable method, it does require some patience. Keep wiping your brush clean as you work, and do not be afraid to add a little more paint from either color if the blend starts looking patchy. This approach works well for medium sized areas, but if you want something faster or softer, there are other techniques that might suit you better.

Creating Soft Transitions with a Dry Mop Brush

For covering large areas with a perfectly smooth blend, I love using a dry mop brush. This is a big, soft brush often used for watercolor painting, but it works beautifully with acrylics when you use it dry. Apply your colors thickly on the canvas without worrying about perfectly even brushstrokes. Then, before the paint dries, use the dry mop to gently scumble over the edges where the colors meet.

This creates a soft, airbrushed look without actually using an airbrush. It is especially fun when working on abstract pieces where you can layer multiple colors and blend them into each other. The only downside is that mop brushes are large, so they are not ideal for small areas. For those, you will need a smaller blending tool.

Blending Smaller Areas with a Filbert Brush

When you need the control of a smaller brush but still want a soft blend, a filbert is a great choice. Its rounded edge lets you create smoother transitions than a flat brush, while still giving you precision in tighter spaces.

Use it in the same way as the mop brush, keeping it dry and lightly scumbling the paint together. This works especially well for medium sized details, like blending colors within a flower petal or softly fading the edges of a cloud.

Dabbing Color for Tiny Details

For very small details, like blending around an animal’s eye or creating subtle shading in a small facial feature, I like to use an angle shader or a small flat brush. Instead of traditional back and forth strokes, I dab the brush to mix the colors directly on the canvas.

You can adjust how much of each color you pick up on your brush to control whether the blended area leans more toward one color or the other. This gives you a lot of flexibility for tiny adjustments and is a great way to keep detail work from looking overworked.

Final Thoughts

Blending acrylic paint is a skill that gets easier the more you practice, and each method has its own strengths. The key is to experiment with different brushes and motions so you can choose the right approach for each area of your painting. If you want to keep improving your painting skills, I recommend reading my How to Use Water When Acrylic Painting article next. It will help you understand how water affects blending, paint flow, and texture so you can get even better results in your work.