In college, my mom first started out as a visual arts major. This was a field that she was really passionate about and she was really good at it too. She spent her days drawing, painting, and sculpting. When I got old enough to understand what college was and how you choose a major she would describe to me her classes and what sort of creations she would make and how she was graded. I loved it, being a child who was constantly creating things I thought it was so cool that you could actually go to college to create things and inspire other people. My mom eventually changed her major to pursue something else she was passionate about, Early Childhood Development, which she went on to graduate with and move into the workforce helping children with special needs and disabilities and later on opening her own gymnastics gym where she helped inspire kids and help them fall in love with the sport of Gymnastics. Although my mom switched majors, she still has many pieces of her art which I used to gawk at as a child thinking it was so amazing that my mom created this pieces. Later on when I graduated high school and moved onto college my mom framed my favorite piece of hers and gave it to me. I have had it ever since. it has hung in every single apartment of mine since then. It was a charcoal drawing of some European travel books and a glass of wine. It showed my mom's love of travel and how she dreamt of going to Europe. Whenever I look at this piece of artwork I think about the dreams my mom had and the things she was able to accomplish this is something that I look at daily as a reminder to pursue my dreams.
I have always wanted to paint like my mom used to, however painting is hard (lol). I love the process of it though, I love finding paint on random parts of my body for days after, even though I already showered. I wanted to find a way to make beautiful paintings that were abstract and creative but didn't take a ton of talent. Pour painting it a great way to do this. It is a very easy process and a great way to be creative. This is how you go about paint pouring:
Supplies Needed To Create:
3 16"x20" Canvas (I got a 5 pack for $10, I messed up one canvas and used 3 for the artwork, then I had one left over)
Paint pouring acrylics (Neutral set, light and dark blue)
Plastic cups
Cardboard and an old sheet for painting on and drying the paintings on
Estimated Time To Create: 1 hr for creating and approximately 6 hrs for drying
Step 1: The first thing you want to do is setup your work station. I did this in my garage and I laid down an old sheet. I then put a large piece of cardboard on top of that. I switched out the cardboard in between paintings to get rid of the paint drippings so that the paint wouldn't stick on the back of the canvas. I also put a fan nearby to help with the paint smell. You will want to have multiple plastic cups and plastic gloves around. I probably used about 12 plastic cups to make all the different mixes and pours. I also changed my gloves about 3 times per painting. It helps with easy cleanup. This is a very messy process and requires getting your hands very dirty so it helps to use gloves.
Step 2: Once you have everything setup you can decide what colors you want to use and what kind of patterns you want to have. There are several different ways you can do paint pouring. I decided to use three different techniques among my paintings. The first one was cup swirling (my name for it lol), this is when you layers paint colors in a cup and then swirl it across the canvas in a circular motion. You then tilt the canvas to get the pour effect. Another technique is to simply just squirt paint straight out of the bottle in different patterns and lines and then tilt the canvas to get the pour effect. The final technique that I used was the dirty pour. This is probably my favorite technique. This is when you layer the paint colors in a cup like you do for the swirling method and then you flip the cup over onto the canvas and lift it up. You then tilt the canvas to get the pour effect. This technique gives you a marble look. For the first canvas I used the cup swirling method. I used 3 different cups, one that I swirled diagonally from corner to corner and then one on each side of that. Once I did those 3 cups I then used the paint bottles to fill up any white spots like the second technique I described. For all the cups I just layered random combinations of white, gray, black, light blue, and dark blue paint. The swirling technique gives you a lot of lines in your painting. Once you tilt the canvas in all directions trying to fill all the white space you will want to run your finger along the edges or sides of the canvas to get off the dripping paint and to get a solid coat on those sides so they don't look spotty. Once I finished I put the painting outside in the sun on another sheet to dry. Below are pictures that show the whole process of the first painting:
Step 3: For the second painting I used the dirty pour method. I used 3 different cups. I would pour one first and tilt it around until it was done and then I did the next one and then the next one until the whole canvas was covered. I then wiped the sides and put it outside in the sun to dry. Below are pictures showing the dirty pour method:
Step 4: For the third painting I used three cups, two swirls and one dirty pour. I then wiped the sides and put it our in the sun to dry. Below are some pictures from that process (the final product of this painting is the top right painting in the last picture):
Step 5: Let the paintings dry for around 6 hours until dry (preferably in the sun). You will then want to use a hammer and the two nails that come with the saw tooth picture hangers and put one picture hanger on the top middle of each painting. I then measured out and marked where I wanted my pictures on the wall and used the hammer to put the picture handing hooks into the wall. I then hung my three paintings in the order that I wanted them to make a three piece series.
Notes: This is a very creative process so you can really personalize it in what colors you use, what techniques you use, and how you tilt the canvas. I wanted to use blues, grays, and whites, because those are the colors in our living room but you can really use any color combinations you want. Micheals has individual colors as well as good color combo sets which are colors that work well together. Also there are different acrylics you can use. You can use regular acrylics and get a pouring medium to thin them out. I actually tried this first and it didn't work well for me. The paint was still too chunky. I really liked the paint pouring acrylics because they're already thinned out and you don't have to worry about mixing them to make the right consistencies.
Thank you guys for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this simple, creative way to make beautiful paintings. As always if you have any questions about this craft or anything else shoot me an email or a DM. Until next Saturday...keep crafting on, my friends.
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