This acrylic painting technique is so easy and enjoyable, you’ll need to start buying your canvases in bulk!
Utilizing pouring medium and gravity, this acrylic pouring method allows the paint to create stunning, organic results. Each pour painting is one of a kind, and captures the fun you had in making it.
Tools & Materials
- Drop cloth
- Plastic cups
- Stretched canvas
- Level
- Plastic spoons or paint stirrers
- DeSerres acrylic paints
- Water
- Pouring medium
Project Instructions
Step 1: Before you get started, cover the floor and/or worktable with a drop cloth.
Step 2: Place four upturned plastic cups under the edges of your canvas to keep it raised up off of your work surface. Elevating the canvas also allows the paint to flow over the sides, and lets you easily pick up the painting to move it around as the paint settles. Make sure your canvas is level.
Step 3: In separate plastic cups, using separate plastic spoons or paint stirrers, mix three paint colors of your choice with equal parts water and pouring medium, until the consistency is fluid but still thick and syrup-like. Don’t mix too vigorously, as this will produce air bubbles.
Step 4: In a clean plastic cup, pour your three premixed paint colors in alternating layers until the cup is 2⁄3 full. The number of cups you’ll need to fill to cover your surface will depend on the size of the canvas you’re using. For example, you’ll need two cups for a 10-by-14-inch canvas.
Step 5: Place the filled cups on the canvas, right-side-up. You want the paint to cover as much of the canvas surface as possible, so space them evenly apart on the canvas. In one swift motion, as quickly as possible, flip both cups over onto your canvas, and leave them upturned. Don’t slide or relocate the cups once they’re flipped.
Step 6: Lift your cups away from the canvas and watch how the paint moves. Pick up your canvas by the sides, and gently tilt it to make the paint to run into specific areas. You can also drip additional paint onto the surface to change the composition of the abstract image. Set your painting in a level position in a dust-free area, and let it dry completely.
This article is reprinted with permission from www.DeSerres.ca/en.
