My First Official Paint Pour...

 Today I'll be "Doing a paint pour" Oh you're gonna LOVE this! it's messy, but totally worth it. Now is the time to dig in if you haven't already. I'm titling this post acrylic pour painting for beginners. It's going to be an introduction to one of the hottest art trends going on today.

And yes, I am a little late to the party. Guilty as charged.

And yes, this is embrassing to admit, but I only found out about this technique from a few comments on here and from visiting Pinterst. Yep, that's right! Well, since the pandemic started, I honestly can't say it's been easy to discover new art trends socially as it once was. Hopefully some of you can relate. Anyway, moving on...

Have you ever heard of "pour painting", also known as "painting pours" or "fluid painting"? and wanted to learn all about it, and maybe try your hand at it? Great, me too! Are you intrigued by the look of abstract art and wanting to get in on this hot trend? Check!

I must confess, I am totally lousy at abstract art. I just can't get a handle on it. It is almost as if I am not wired for it at all. After all, I studied under "old school" instructors in which above all else, you almost have to become wedded to your subject matter to paint it accurately. It's easy for me to know what I need to do to complete work in the ultra-reliast style, but if I am working in an abstract style I have no idea. Frustrating. Oh well. The good news is that I think learning fluid painting may be the answer I've been hoping for! I've scoured as many articles and how-to's as I can and even without taking a single class, I think I can do this. But since this will be my first official "pilot" fluid painting, I'm keeping a log on this post bit by bit to show you how things will unfold. Ok, let's begin with the necessary materials!

To do this you will need:

Tools and Materials:

• Painting medium (Floetrol is the most popular)
• Paints
• Silicone oil (but I am experimenting with WD-40 and 3 in one all purpose oil for household use)
• Some disposable cups, 
• something to stir the paint around with (e.g. popsicle sticks)
• A canvas
• Something to prop your canvas up (can be pushpins or more Dixie cups)
• Something to protect your work surface with like newspapaers

First off, one afternoon, my boyfriend and I were shopping at AceHardware  for some supplies for our backyard garden, and the thought toccured to me to check up on a product called "Floetrol" I was kind of bone-headed when I asked the sales associate about it as I couldn't relly say the name correctly until I pulled it up on my phone. Floetrol (also known by the brand name "Flood" is a product used to mix with acrylic paints to improve their consistency. This is the first thing you need - a painting "medium" with which you will miix with your paints so they will flow on the canvas easily to create the intresting patterns. Liquitex has a proprietary brand of their own as well, the main thing is it has to be acetone based  Although you can thin acrylic paint with water, you have to be mindful of how much you add to it as you run the risk of de-pigmenting the vibrant colors. A good painting medium will offset this.

I have also heard that you can assemble your own painting medium using a combo of Mod Podge and water. Sounds just like my recipe here if not identical! If you're starting out on the cheap or you can't get out much and yuou have to use what you have on hand you might consider this. I do want to stress that it may work well, but long term the results may not be archival quality. So it depends on what your goals are.

Anyway, you can buy a product like Floetrol at most home imporvement stores (or online if stock is low). It comes in a quart sized bottle.

I have decided that I am going to use the acetone product that I found in my collection of paints that was made to be used with my enamel (glass ) acrylics. Call me cheap but I don't see why you should spend money on something if you can find what you need in your very own closet or pantry that will do the job you need. Can I get an 'amen"?

The second thing you ned...Silicone oil. This product will help create the "cells" in the final pour apinting. Now I am in a quandary about this, just out of curiosity I checked under the kitchen sink where I keep all my cleaning/household supplies and found a bottle of "3 in 1 multipurpose oil" (made by the same company that also makes WD-40.) I got online ad did some poking around trying to find out if this oil I found would be as effective as silicone oil , it was hard to get good answers, even read reviews on Amazon to see if any customers used 3 in 1 for fluid painting. Uh...no. Refer to my above argument. Sometimes you are just on your own about these things.

The paints...

The good news is you can use any of your acrylic paints you want..the trick will be choosing the right combination of colors so you get the right effect. The wrong color combo, you could end up with a muddy looking owrk of art, or too washed out. I love warm tones with lots of orange so I am going to stick to that. ALso, if you decide to include black in your scheme, do so very very sparingly. A little will go along way. I rarely use black when I paint, period. You can even use metallics or neon colors if you want as long as you choose colors that work together. 

You'll need a handful of disposable cups...one for each color (about 4-5), and some sticks for stirring, like popsicle sticks or coffee stirrers.

A canvas...doesn't matter the type. 

Tip: If you can, start with a small canvas (about 11 x 14 or similar) and a roasting pan (which are usually about that big or a little larger, ) as these are usually about the right size to catch apint drips.

And be sure you protect your workspace as things are about to get messy. You're probably going to spill some paint so put down newspapers or one of those disposable plastic tablecloths.

1. Start by pouring a small amount of the first colro into one of your cups. Add a similar amount of your medium and stir together.

Repeat with the other colors.

Prep your canvas first....Use thumbtacks on the bottom so the canvas will be propped up a little which will minimize runoff.

First off you can pour the paint directly from the cup, or tip the cup over, and follow up with the others

Or you can drip each color down in patterns like I have done here (you may want to alternate the different colors)

, 

Now take the canvas and move it around slightly, let the paint run in all directions, you may want to limit how much you do this but keep moving the canvas around until there are no white spots showing. To-da!  Do you notice any cells forming? This are spots that look especially photogenic with gaps of color that resemble bubbles oof soap.  Sometimes it happesn sometimes it doesn't

 Time to admire your work!

ANd if you have any messy drips left behind (most likely y ou'll have some) take your other canvas and push it face down into the paint drips left over to create ANOTHER piece fo artwork....

Can you paint pour over a paint pour that's messed up?

I'd be lying if I told you every paint project will go right 100% of the time.

And so it is, and was, with me.If you will recall from my previous post, I had just completed my first official paint pour. I was over the moon. Until I opened the door to the closet that I had it carefully placed so it could dry.  What I saw was ...There was no words. Just cue the scratching record sound right about now.

Much to my consternation I saw one of my old paintings had fallen face down on top of my freshly painted fluid painting! How could this have happened??!!?? My work of art was ruined! And what are the odds of something like a painting that was just casually stuck behind it actually falling on a wet painting and ruining it? Man, the art gods must have had it out for me that night.

I probably said a few cuss words and stuff I wouldn't post here....But then I realized, we;re all adults here adn we don't cry over spilled milk or paint. After I peeled off the fofending painting that had spoiled everything, I was ready to trash it out of spite. It was mediocre, anyway.

I got one of my palette knives and proceeded to scrape off the "damaged" area of my new fluid painting.Some residual color had remained on the canvas. 

I remember that I did all my paint mixing ins trategically used containers with lids so I had paint already left over that I could use to redo the damage. Then I- you guessed it...proceeded to re-pour. I knew it would not look just like the original but I did my best. Just as a point of comparison, here is the original work:

And after all is said adn done, here is the re-done piece:

So YES, you can pour paint over a paint pour. If you happen to have my bad luck that day, or if you're unsaitisfied iwth something, or just plain goof on one spot. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Get to it quickly....the drying time is a factor. I also did a small version of this one on an 8 x 10 size canvas and it was already dry in a matter of hours. WHo knows? Of course, I did not touch it. I can tell when paint is wet in some areas by its glossy appearance.

When you scrape paint off the canvas discard the pieces in the trash, don't try to rinse it down the sink.

Redoing a painting that you "goof" on, or you're just disatisfied with, is more cost effective. I've painted over canvasses plenty of times over buying new ones and starting from square one.  Usually I'll just apply a coat of white gesso to it and start over. Of course, you won't need to do that with a paint pour.

If the paint is semi-moist, scrape it off using your palette knife. Best to get to it as quickly as possible to make this easier.

Full Disclaimer: SInce I have only got 2 paint pours under my belt, I can't call myself an expert (yet.) But I can tell youwhat I know about acrylic paint in general from lifelong experience as this subject relates to paint composition.

Acrylic paint tends to contract as it dries, the top layer if it is thicker develops a type of "skin" over the bottom layer due to the presence of polymer binders., also water evaporates naturally as it dries. So if you are going to re-pour a piece of work that has dried, be sure to wait until it has "cured" which can take as long as two weeks.  There's "dry" on a superficial level and then there's "cured" meaning ALL of the layers of paint have adequately dried not just one layer.

Good luck to you and let meknow how it goes!