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I'm a beginner trying to paint a landscape with acrylics, but I'm really struggling with blending the colors smoothly before they dry. I've watched tutorials on acrylic painting techniques like wet-on-wet and glazing, but my sky gradients always end up streaky and my attempts at glazing over a dry layer just lift the paint underneath. I'm using student-grade paints and mediums, and I'm not sure if the issue is my materials, my brushwork, or my timing. How do you achieve those soft, seamless transitions in acrylics, especially for elements like skies and distant hills?

Keeping the surface a bit damp is a huge help. I mist between layers and work quick to preserve a wet edge. Feathery strokes with a large flat brush usually gives me the soft sky without streaks.

With student paints, open time is the real limiter. Try a slow-drying medium or retarder and a purpose-made glazing medium rather than thinning with water alone; remember too much water muddies the color and breaks film. A tiny bit of flow aid helps too.

Would you like a quick 3-step warm-up you can try this week? I can sketch a simple sky gradient and a distant hill exercise based on your current palette.

Try feathering with a clean dry brush to soften edges after laying color; or use a big mop brush to blend color along the sky while it's still moist. For distant hills, build from light to dark in soft layers; keep contrasts low so it reads as atmospheric perspective.

Plan values first: establish lightest sky, mid tone, and the darker tone for hills; map your brushwork to those zones and avoid heavy strokes across the horizon. Work from large shapes to details while edges stay soft. Keep a scrap painting to test gradients before applying to the final piece.

If you want, tell me your palette and brush sizes; I can tailor a specific 20-minute exercise. Also a photo would help diagnose streaks or muddy color.

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