One of the fun things about being a mixed media artist, is constantly playing with and exploring new mediums. Recently I’ve been experimenting with Acrylic Pour paintings, and techniques. At the Beginning of the quarantine in 2020 I started messing around with this technique I saw on youtube randomly one day, called acrylic pouring. I had probably seen it before in other artists works, but I had never really put much thought into how it was done. After seeing a few youtube videos I decided to give it a whirl. Because of the lockdown I suddenly had all this time at home. I no longer had to divvy up my time between commissioned artworks and other original art pieces. This opened up the possibility of exploring this new exciting paint technique. I started by doing a small Simpson’s piece for myself. It came out pretty decent so I decided to make it an ongoing series of mine.
Not long after in June of 2020 I received a phone call from my good friend Jannie Wolff. She is a dear friend and has forged a name for herself in the art community of Jersey City where I live. She called me to tell me about this amazing opportunity that fell into her lap to choose a couple artists for a 2 month long residency at an art foundation called ESKFF (Eileen S. Kaminsky Family Foundation). I was beyond excited and accepted the opportunity on the spot. The residency would allow me the freedom to work on whatever theme of art in any medium I wanted. This was perfect to explore and hone my acrylic pour techniques. During the two months and about a dozen pieces later, (some that I completely covered up and started over again) I made mistakes and learned tips to keep in mind, and I would love to share those with you now.
What is Acrylic Pouring?
Acrylic pouring is a painting technique, using acrylic paints. Sometimes this is also referred to as Fluid Art. It creates robust unpredictable patterns of color. Some might call this trippy, and by some I mean me. It’s kind of like a lava lamp transformed into a painting. Acrylic paints are water based paints that come in every color imaginable and dry fairly quickly. In acrylic pouring it is imperative and the cornerstone of the technique that these paints are loose in consistency; enough to be poured over the surface you are painting. To achieve this consistency in the paint, you need to use something called a pouring medium. Some art supply stores and companies sell a product simply called pouring medium, I however have found great success is using a product called FLOOD Floetrol.
FLOOD’s intended use is to thin out latex paint when painting interiors. You probably won’t find this product at an art supply but can easily find this product at Homedepot, Lowe’s or Amazon. You use this pouring medium and mix it with your desired color paint, sometimes to conserve the amount of FLOOD, I add a little bit of water. This gives me more of the color I want without having to use more paint or pouring medium. ***It’s important to note here not to over do it with the water. (maybe just an 8th of the cup you are using) It is possible to make the consistency too runny***.
Now Before you add your pouring medium I want to share with you something I Iearned by trial and error. I learned that the color I achieve when mixing the paint and flood and placed on the surface is not how that color will appear once it has dried. I found that the colors across the board always dry darker than they looked when they were first poured. The reason for this is the acrylic emulsion is cloudy when wet, causing the color to appear lighter than it is and when it dries, the emulsion dries clear revealing the truer darker color. To remedy this all you need to do is add a little bit of white paint to your color paint before you mix in the pouring medium.
What Are Cells?
One of the desired and coolest attributes you can achieve in an acrylic pour are cells. Cells occur due to different densities in the paint colors.
One of the easiest ways to achieve cells in your painting is to use Silicone oil. Silicon oil is mixed into the paint after you mix in the pouring medium. Use only a couple of drops (about 3). If you use more than that you risk the painting having an oily sheen even after it has fully dried. It’s not a good look and it will rub off on your hands and possibly your clothes 😖. This was another lesson I learned the hard way. I thought that adding more silicone oil was going to give me more cells. I was very wrong. You can learn from my mistakes however (haha). To achieve more and bigger cells in your pour, you just need to hold your cup further away from the surface you are pouring on. The further away you are pouring, the more aerated the mixture becomes and gives you bigger and more noticeable cells. Another way of manipulating the number of cells is how you stir the silicone oil into your paint mixture. If you stir a lot you will get smaller cells, and if you hardly stir you will get larger cells. Below is a video I made that will show you the step by step process of making your paint mixtures for the pour.
The Pours
Now that our mixtures are made, we can start our pour. There are numerous pour techniques that you can choose from. Honestly I would go as far as to say there is no wrong way to start pouring your colors onto the canvas (or any surface you choose). But for now let's start with some basic pours to give you a foundation to start with. There is one stipulation I would follow no matter the technique you choose though. Before you pour your colors on, I like to choose a base color for the canvas, whether it be white, black or whatever, and just cover the canvas completely first. This helps your mixture flow more easily over the surface area., and gives you more complete coverage. You can skip this step but I think you'll end up having to use more paint in the pour. The larger the canvas or surface you’re using the more useful this step comes in handy. If you use a rather small canvas like you will see in the videos below, it isn’t as necessary.***You most definitely want to wear gloves for this process, because you will get your hands covered in paint!***
Now for the different pour techniques:
Open Cup Pour:
This one is my favorite and has given me the best results in my opinion (you may find a technique that you love more, So EXPERIMENT!)
Like the name would suggest an open cup pour involves a plastic cup that you have cut the bottom off of. After cutting it you place your cup rim face down and start to pour your acrylics through the opening in the cup. Rotating each color until you run out or you feel there is enough paint to cover the canvas. Now remove the cup and let the paint flow out onto the surface. Then pick up your canvas and slowly start tilting and rotating, until the paint covers the whole canvas and drips over the sides. Below is a video of me doing an open cup pour, you’ll be able to see the process step by step.
Dirty Cup Pour:
For this method you will also use a cup, no need to cut the cup for this one. Pick and prepare the colors you want to use. And start pouring them into the cup. Rotate the colors in any way you want. You can use as little as two colors for a pour, it's up to you. Just keep in mind if you start mixing too many colors it may muddy up the design. Once you have the amount of paint in the cup that you think will cover your surface, pick up the cup and start pouring it over the surface, in any pattern you like, you can pour it in zigzags, swirls, whatever! When you are done pouring, put the cup down and lift up your canvas with your hands and tilt and rotate until you achieve your desired coverage. Below is a video of me doing a dirty cup pour, you’ll be able to see the process step by step.
***Pro tip: This is a great pour technique to use up any leftover paint mixtures from other pours.***
Flip Cup Pour:
This method of pouring follows the same set up as the dirty cup pour. When it gets to the pouring part though; place the canvas upside down on top of the cup and holding the canvas firmly to the cup, flip them over. Remove the cup and watch the paint flow over the canvas. Now as before, tilt and rotate the canvas to your desired coverage. Below is a video of me doing a flip cup pour, you’ll be able to see the process step by step.
Finishing up Acrylic Pour Paintings
Once you have the desired coverage on your painting, there's just a couple of things to consider.
Getting Rid of Air Bubbles:
You can do this by lightly tapping your painting up and down lightly on a flat surface, or you can use a butane torch. With the torch; lightly and swiftly move across the surface of your painting with the torch. The added bonus of the torch technique is the torch acts as a catalyst for the silicone oil and brings out the cells in your painting while simultaneously evaporating the air bubbles.
Place Your Painting In A Safe Place To Dry:
Acrylic pour paintings are rather thick, and will take 24 to 48 hours to dry completely depending on the amount of paint used, and the size of the surface area covered. For drying, you will want to prop your canvas up on each of the 4 corners so that the excess paint can continue to drip off while it dries. You can use 4 disposable cups placed upside down for this or place your art piece on a drying rack.
Congratulations! You made your very own Acrylic pour painting! Once they are dried you can choose to paint your own image or design on top of them, or even collage! The possibilities are endless! Below are the final results of each pour, after they dried. I hope you have fun with this, and find your own methods and techniques that work for you! Feel free to contact me with any more questions you may have or tell me how it went for you in a comment below.
