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Getting Started with Acrylic Pouring By Deby Coles © 2017 Deborah Coles All rights reserved First printing 2017

No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.

Learn more about Acrylic Pouring at the Authors website:

Acryliouring.com

Getting Started with Acrylic Pouring A beginners’ quick-start guide to success Welcome to the addictive and absorbing hobby of acrylic pouring, painting and swiping. I’m so delighted you’ve ed all of us fellow painting addicts. You may be brand new and yet to make your first painting, or maybe have created a few and are looking for more information to expand your skills. Either way this quick-start guide is for you. It’s not intended to be a teach you everything fully comprehensive guide to everything you will ever want to know about acrylic pouring. Much of that has to come from your own practice, experiments and experience, but if you are looking to create your first cells, I’m hoping I have a recipe that is going to work for you.

Where to get more information and your questions answered You are sure to have more questions as you develop your skills and try new techniques. in the chat, the swaps, the challenges and the Q&A in the Facebook Group. Read the articles on the Acrylic Pouring blog Sign up to the email list on Acrylic Pouring to get a weekly email with new articles. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and hit the little ‘bell’ icon to be notified of new videos. Get your painting supplies in the Acrylic Pouring Store (US only)

Let’s get started!

Did you know that this book has now been expanded into a fully comprehensive online course? Entitled Acrylic Pouring for Beginners, the video class expands upon the content in the book to provide even more content, tips, tricks, advice and video content. “Learn how to create gorgeous abstract art in acrylic paint. For the complete beginner, even if you have never painted before. I'll explain everything you need to get started and show you how, step by step, every step of the way.” The course includes: • • • • • • •

17 exclusive step by step or informational videos 5 painting techniques to get you started on your pouring addiction Tips and tricks to help you make better paintings, avoid mistakes or how to fix them Helpful links to where you can track down supplies you might not find on the high street Links to other helpful information and videos to expand your knowledge Ongoing and appreciation for your art in the Facebook chat group A feeling of happiness, relaxation and satisfaction with every pour!

See the full curriculum, the introductory video and more about the class here.

(Apply the code VIPDISCOUNT at checkout to get $19 off the full price of the class.)

Safety considerations

Before going any further, let’s go through ‘the small print’. In this guide, you will come across my own experiences and experiments with acrylic paints, additives, mediums and techniques. I am not a scientist nor any kind of safety expert – just a regular painter for fun just like you. I’ve read the safety precautions and information on paint and additives and satisfied myself about their usage and what risks there might be. However, I urge you to use your own common sense, do your own research and carry out your own risk assessment in using any of the materials, products and techniques covered in this guide. You can be sure that when a company was developing craft acrylic paints for home use, no one said let’s see what will happen if we heat them with a chef’s torch. Or let’s see what will happen if we spray a silicone lubricant into these paints. It was not considered part of the standard usage of those products when they were developed, and they have not been tested for use in this way. Therefore, no safety information is available. Please take your own safety precautions especially with regard to using paints and additives in a well-ventilated area. If you plan to use a torch, always make sure to have fire safety equipment on hand such as a large damp towel, fire blanket or even a fire extinguisher. Take care not to burn yourself, your painting, your table, or your house down! Keep silicone sprays away from children. Don’t allow them to use the torch. Always make sure they are painting under adult supervision. You know, common sense rules should apply for their safety. Please, I’m not kidding about this stuff. Only use those products and techniques you feel comfortable with. If the fumes from any of these products make you feel unwell, or you get a rash on your skin, trouble breathing, headaches etc, please discontinue and seek medical advice. Thank you.

A note about the links in this ebook External links - You may get a pop up box if you click on any of the links in this eBook, asking if you want to continue to a site outside of the book. You can safely click yes, and be redirected to an external site with recommended products, videos, extra reading or more information.

Product links - Links to products are provided for the Acrylic Pouring Store, which checks out via Amazon.com for the US readers. An international link is also provided. This takes you to Kit.com and to the Getting Started international page. It has behind the scenes coding that tries to send you to a product on your own local Amazon where one exists. However, it does have its limitations and will only send you to your local site where it finds the same product. If the same product is not found locally, you will be redirected to the US Amazon so you can at least see the product being recommended in more detail. You may see each product several times on the Kit page, and if one link does not redirect for you, one of the others might. I’m sorry its not possible to provide personalised links to all countries. If you are in Canada, the UK, , , Italy or Spain, you can use the international Kit.com links. There are no direct materials links for other countries. Please do come and chat in the Facebook chat group if you need recommendations for where products can be found for other countries.

Acrylic pouring and definitions

Abstract – art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures. Acetate – a clear sheet of flexible plastic often used to swipe one color over another to create cells in the paint. Archival quality – Refers to materials that meet certain criteria for permanence such as lignin-free, pH neutral, alkaline-buffered, stable in light, etc. Artist quality – the best quality (and highest priced) paints you can buy. Professional quality paint, with high pigment concentrations and no fillers. Prices range based on the cost of acquiring the pigments themselves, with the natural earth-derived mineral pigments being the most expensive ASTM – The American Society for Testing and Materials. An independent standard for certain paint qualities, adopted by most manufacturers. Binder – this is the substance that ‘binds’ a dry pigment together. For acrylic paints, Acrylic Polymer is the binder. Bleeding – describes the action of one color running into another. Canvas – cloth used over a stretcher frame or glued onto a cardboard to paint on. Can also be used as the term for the complete unit of the canvas fabric and the wooden frame. Canvas board / canvas – a heavy cardboard with a cotton or linen canvas glued to one side, with the edges folded over to the back. Sometimes also called a canvas . Canvas weight – this refers to how thick the canvas is, usually labelled in ounces, 8oz, 10oz, 12oz. Cells – a goal of many acrylic pour painters, to create movement in their paint layers where the paint on top separates and allows colors underneath to show through, usually in round or organic shapes.

Color wheel – a circle with different colored sectors used to show the relationship between colors. Complimentary Color – The color that is directly across from a color on the color wheel. Complimentary colors make each other seem more saturated and bright when placed side by side. They can also be mixed together in various amounts to unsaturate each other. (e.g. red and green, purple and yellow, orange and blue). Consistency – the thickness or thinness of paint, basically how the paint ‘feels’ on the brush or canvas. Dimethicone – a skin-safe form of silicone oil, often added to acrylic pour paintings to assist in the creation of cells. Dip / dipping – a form of acrylic pour or flow painting where the surface is dipped into the mixed paint to create interesting designs and cells. This is often used as a way of creating art from paint that spilled over the edges of other paintings, to avoid waste. Dirty pour – a technique where all colors are added to a cup or container at the same time and then poured together to create an acrylic pouring paint effect. A flip cup (see below) is also a form of dirty pour. Easel – a wooden or metal stand for holding a canvas, a or a drawing-board. Flip cup – a form of dirty pour (see above). All colors are added to a cup or container, the canvas or surface is placed painting side down onto the cup and then the two together are turned upside down without the paint escaping. The cup is lifted allowing the paint to escape and flow across the canvas. Funnel pour – paint colors are added to a funnel with the end blocked. Once all paints are added, the end of the funnel is released and the paints flow onto the canvas as the funnel is moved to create the design. Gel medium – a semi-solid material that you can mix in with your acrylics to drastically change the texture, consistency and can make your paint go a lot further. Gesso – Used to prime the surface of the canvas and seal it so you can paint on it. It is a combination of chalk (Calcium Carbonate) and an acrylic polymer medium latex. Gesso increases the tooth of the surface, giving the paint something to grab onto and stick. Usually white in color, as Titanium White is included in the mixture. (This is why all stretched, primed canvases are usually pure white). Gloss medium – medium that you can mix in with your acrylic paints to add shine to the paint or use to varnish the surface. Intensity – The purity and brightness of a color. Also called saturation. Interference paint – when viewed from different angles the paint appears differently. Painted over a dark color you can see one color, paint the same color over a light background and you see the complimentary color. Add a very small amount of black to Interference colors to produce deeper, richer, opalescent effects. Lightfast – Resistant to fading or other changes due to light. Matte – flat, nonglossy; having a dull surface appearance. Variant spelling – matt.

Medium – the method in which an artist works; oil-painting, gouache, pastel, pen and ink, etching, collage, sculpture, etc., are all media for his expression. Mixed media – one or more medium used in the same picture. Opaque – a pigment that doesn’t allow light through, as opposed to “Transparent” which is the opposite, and does let light through. Palette – the surface that you mix colors onto, this can vary from wooden palettes to glass, to tear-off paper palette. Acrylics, due to their fast drying nature, benefit from a stay-wet palette. Can also be used to describe the range of colors you are working with, i.e. I’m working with a palette of earth tones in my next work. Permanence – The ability of the paint to retain its original colors through time. Most acrylic paint colors have high permanence except for wild synthetic colors like neons. Pigment – the raw material that all paints are made from. Natural or synthetic materials are finely ground and mixed with a liquid binder into a paste to make paint. Pouring medium – an additive to your acrylic paint, designed to (usually) keep the paint wet and workable longer, and promote it to better flow and move. It may or may not ‘thin’ the paint depending on the product used. Examples might be the Liquitex Pouring Medium, Floetrol, GAC 800 or PVA Glue. Puddle pour – a technique where acrylic paints are layered on top of each other in several ‘puddles’ before the canvas is tipped to create interesting designs in the flowing paints. Silicone oil – an oil product added to the paint to encourage the formation of cells. Often heat will be applied with a chef’s torch to create additional cells once the design has been created. Stretcher Bar – the wooden frames that raw canvas is stretched around. Swipe / swiping – the process of dragging acrylic colors across each other to mix them and encourage the formation of cells. Torching – where heat is quickly flashed across the surface of a painting while the paint is still wet. This is often carried out using a chef’s torch and serves two purposes. It will pop any air bubbles in the paint and encourage the formation of cells. Transparent – The color is slightly see-through, allowing light to penetrate it. When applied over other layers, some of the layers underneath will show through and will be visually mixed by our eyes with the transparent layer on top. (E.g. laying transparent yellow over a blue layer will visually read as green to us). This is the opposite of an opaque color. Varnish – generally, a more or less transparent film-forming liquid that dries into a solid film. Yupo paper – an alternative to traditional art papers. It’s a synthetic paper, machine-made in the USA of 100% polypropylene. It is waterproof, stain-resistant, and extremely strong and durable.

Tools and equipment you will need You can get started with a minimum of equipment and just ‘give it a try’ however you might be disappointed with the results, and you will have wasted valuable paints and canvases, and not learned much in the process. It’s better to invest a little money in your new hobby and get the right equipment at the start, to get the best results. But that being said, if your budget doesn’t stretch to all these supplies, you can still enjoy fluid acrylic painting just using paint and water.

I recommend these supplies as a minimum: Something to paint on You can get started with small canvases for practice. The most popular sizes tend to be 8 x 10 inches or 10 x 10 inches. You can save money by getting canvas boards rather than stretched canvases but I don’t recommend them. They have a tendency to warp and bend while the paint is drying and your painting can move while they dry, breaking up any cells and spoiling your design. Better to invest in an economy canvas pack. If you are practicing and create a painting you don’t like, then you can wipe and scrape off most of the paint residue and then wash and dry the canvas so you can use it again. If you have dried a painting and then decide you don’t like it, you should ideally leave the canvas a month to fully cure, then give it a coat of gesso, before attempting to re-pour over it. Reusing canvases can sometimes create cracking in the new painting if the paint of the original layer softens, so keep your fingers crossed, but it is certainly worth trying. I recommend these sort of canvases to get you started (Click the links to find the recommended products):

USA – Economy canvas packs International – via Kit to your local amazon where available

Something to paint with – your paints. All of your paintings will be using water-based acrylic paints however there are a vast number of options when it comes to brands, colors, and the thickness or viscosity of the paint, as well as availability. I’m recommending that while you are learning, you stick with something reasonably inexpensive, easy to find, and available in a wide range of colors, such as the small 2 oz. bottles of craft paint. For the examples in this guide, I will be using mostly FolkArt or Apple Barrel paints from Plaid. These are commonly available in the US and Canada. Apple Barrel maybe less so in the UK and Europe but you can get other Plaid paints such as the FolkArt or Americana which are all similar.

These paints are already quite ‘fluid’ and therefore easier for a new painter to work with than the thicker paints you might find in tubes because they don’t need to be thinned as much for pouring.

Try your first pours with these paints: (click the links to view the products)

USA – Apple Barrel Paints or Americana Paints International – via Kit to your local amazon where available

Pouring Medium You will have likely heard the term ‘pouring medium’ used in acrylic pour painting, but what is a pouring medium, is there more than one kind and why do we use it? If you want your paints to ‘flow’ over the canvas, you will most likely need to thin them, unless you are using High Flow Acrylics. You could just add lots of water to make the paints ‘runny’ enough to pour, and some artists do, but in thicker paints, like tube paints, and some heavy body acrylics, the amount of water you would need to add would likely cause problems in your paint by diluting them too much. You could find that your paints would flake, lift off the canvas, layers wouldn’t stick to each other, and your paintings wouldn’t stay looking good for long. That’s where a pouring medium comes in. It acts as both a dilutant and a binder. It helps to thin the paint while still making sure the paint retains its strength. Now you’ll need to add less water, if any, to make your paints flow. A pouring medium may also extend the drying time of the paint, making it easier to work on your painting for a longer time, or create faux finishes.

WHAT KINDS OF POURING MEDIUM ARE THERE? Liquitex Pouring Medium – best-known brand and product and a lot of painters use this and won’t consider anything else. However as pouring has become more popular, Liquitex have had trouble keeping up with demand and it has often been out of stock. Painters are also reporting that prices have risen sharply because of the demand as retailers realize that it’s become a very popular product. If you want high quality and predictable results, I still recommend using this in your recipe to start with. You can branch out into other products or additional mediums in your recipe later. We will be using this product in our recipe later in this get started guide. Get Liquitex Pouring Medium here – USA / International – via Kit to your local amazon where available

Floetrol – the hardware store alternative. Floetrol is sold as a paint extender. It thins paints for use with spraying or extends drying time for creating faux finishes. Many painters use this as a standalone pouring medium, or as an additional additive along with one of the additional mediums as it seems to promote the formation of cells. Totally inert when dry. Tends to leave the paint flat and more matte than some of the other mediums. We will be using this product in our recipe later in this get started guide. Get Floetrol here – USA / International – via Kit to your local amazon where available

Novaplex 233 – offered by a small company in California, a popular and economical alternative. Shipping prices can be high though. If you live close by, you’re in luck. This company also has a great range of paints. GAC800 – the Golden equivalent of the Liquitex Product and especially designed for pouring. Designed to prevent or limit cracking and crazing in thick layers of paints. Can be used in a very high ratio compared to paint, up to 10 parts GAC800 to 1 part fluid acrylic. Golden have their own formula for pouring including GAC800 and alcohol here. PVA glue – used by several popular YouTubers, PVA glue, such as Elmer’s Glue All in the US, can be used as a very inexpensive pouring medium. Note however, that it is slightly acidic and your resulting paintings will not be ‘archival quality’. Book binders glue – a neutral PH alternative to the regular PVA glue, and suitable for archival quality paintings as a result. Sargent Art Gloss Medium – I’ve just discovered this product myself and fallen in love! I bought it originally as a varnish but used it as a pouring medium and it’s wonderful. Dries so beautiful and glossy and much more economical than the Liquitex. Give it a try when you are ready to create and test your own recipes.

IS ANY ONE BETTER THAN THE OTHER? That’s a hard one to answer. Certainly most prolific and experienced pour painters will have their favorite product or favorite paint ‘recipe’ and will usually not deviate from that because they can be sure (as much as you can be) of getting a repeatable and consistent result when they pour. But while some won’t use anything other than Liquitex Pouring Medium, there are many others who found it to be out of stock, tried other products that were much cheaper and now won’t go back. PVA glue and Floetrol are both popular alternatives. I’ve personally recently been testing the Sargent Art Gloss Medium and am really happy with my results – it makes the paints and especially the metallics, really shine. Best advice – start with either what’s available or what’s within your budget and test it out with your favorite brands of paints and see if you like the results. Try a few of your own side by side comparisons and see if the products work better and are worth that extra investment for you.

For our ‘get started’ recipe, I will be using both the Liquitex Pouring Medium and Floetrol to get the benefits of each, but you can substitute other alternatives if one of these is not available where you live. Or you may use all Floetrol or all Pouring Medium for the recipe if you aren’t yet ready to invest in both. In that case, your results may vary if you use an alternative recipe, but experimenting and making your own is all part of the fun and learning process.

Something to mix your paint in and mix your paint with When you are starting out you will want to get into the habit of mixing all of your paints as needed fresh for the pour. Later when you are more confident in your own recipe, you might want to mix larger batches of paint in advance and store them ready for use. I like to use 8 oz squeeze bottles to store my ready-mixed paints. They are easy to use, have large necks for filling, keep the paint fresh, easy to shake it up before pouring and I can use the paint right out of the squeeze bottle onto the canvas for swipes or squeeze into the cup for dirty pours.

These are the squeeze bottles that I use (or similar if overseas) –

USA

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International

When starting out, mix each of your paints for each pour. It gives you valuable experience in mixing and getting to know your consistency. For the small canvases, you won’t need to mix a lot of each color. I find it best to use clear cups so that you can see your paint clearly and it’s also more fun to flip with clear cups and enjoy the pattern of the paint on the sides of the cup. But the more opaque white cups still work too. If you are environmentally conscious about the number of cups going in the landfill, you can either wipe and wash them, and reuse, or use sturdy plastic cups rather than the disposables. You could even use paper cups so long as you didn’t store paint in them for use later. Start out with smaller cups, say the 6 or 8oz size, otherwise you’ll end up with just a small amount in the bottom of a much larger 12oz cup and it won’t be so easy to mix.

Bulk packs of 8 oz clear plastic or disposable cups: USA

/ International

To stir your paints, you will need a pack of these wooden craft sticks. More environmentally friendly than plastic spoons and they can get into the corners at the bottom of your cups to make sure the paint is fully mixed. You can wash them off after using them if you like. They’ll get stained from the paint colors, but providing you wash and dry them, they are absolutely OK to use again. The regular sized sticks should be fine when you are starting out, but if you progress to larger paintings later with larger cups of paint you may need to use the jumbo craft sticks. Get the natural uncolored ones rather than the colored ones just in case any of that color from the stick bleeds out into your paints.

Bulk packs of wooden craft sticks: USA

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International

Paint additives for cells If you want to get ‘cells’ in your paintings, it’s not essential to add the various additives to your paints, because you can get lucky and make cells just with paint and water if your paint densities are just right, but it will certainly make it easier and more predictable if you do use an additive.

Please re-read the safety warnings at this point. If you choose to add these products to your paint I can take no responsibility for any unexpected results you might encounter if you use them in ways other than that the manufacturer intended and advised.

I’ve tried out various different additives and they all work, some slightly differently to others, but all options will help you to create cells. For the silicone sprays and treill belt lubricants, the use of a chef’s torch can help additional cells to develop. More on that later.

You can use one or more of the following: Silicone spray lubricant. Found in the DIY store or the car care section, silicone spray lubricants may go under brand names such as Liquid Wrench or CRC Heavy Duty Silicone. WD40 is NOT the same and won’t work, although they do have their own silicone product which I haven’t tested. These are easily available and reasonably priced however they do have some downsides. They are not pure silicone oil and will include other additives and ingredients as well as propellants. They may be more flammable because of those additives. The liquid tends to have a slightly yellow color to it and these can smell quite bad. Best to go outside and spray this into a small container in a well-ventilated area. Allow the foam to subside and the fumes to clear before popping on a lid, or transferring the liquid to a dropper bottle to use. Then you can use the liquid more easily while painting and avoid the fumes.

Treill belt lubricant. Although I started out with the spray silicone above, I quickly decided I preferred to use the 100% silicone oil in the form of a treill belt lubricant. Odourless, clear, comes in a dropper bottle and easy to use, this silicone oil is a better alternative although not commonly available in the high street. You would need to order this online. Order your treill belt lubricant here: USA

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International

Dimethicone products. Dimethicone is a skin-friendly form of silicone oil which is commonly found in hair conditioners, body lotions and personal lubricants. I have found this the most reliable way to create lots of cells in your painting without the use of the torch. However even a drop or two can create a lot of cells, sometimes far more than you might want so they have a plus side and a downside in that the cells are much harder to control because they can form all over the painting whether you torch it or not. There are several dimethicone products that I have tested and I have found them all to be similar. I recommend one of the following:

Coconut Milk Hair Serum - USA

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International

(look for the bottle that looks like the picture)

KY True Feel personal lubricant –

USA

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International

(note – the other KY products aren’t the same and won’t work to produce cells)

In our recipe, I will be using a combination of the Treill Belt Lubricant and the Coconut Milk Hair Serum to make cells. If you only want to get one of these to try instead of both, I recommend the Hair Serum as the most reliable way to make instant cells without torching.

Clean and tidy supplies There is no doubt that acrylic pouring can be a messy business. Don’t get in trouble with your other half, keep things protected from spilled and dribbled paint! Surface protection. You will need to put down plastic. You can buy the rolls of painters’ plastic from the DIY store in various thicknesses. I like to use the thicker 4mil instead of the really thin stuff because it’s easy to wipe it off and reuse it instead of throwing it away and replacing it each time. The static cling on that thin plastic sheeting drives me mad sometimes! You can also use plenty of old newspapers or cut open a clean black garbage bag to use to line your work space. Gloves. If you have sensitive skin then gloves will be essential because you WILL get paint on your hands while pouring and tilting the canvas. If you have long nails, again gloves are recommended because cleaning dried on paint out from under your nails could become a bit of a chore if you paint a lot. But if you want the full sensory experience, get messy with it and leave off the gloves. Your paints will most likely carry a statement to say that they have been approved as non-toxic by an appropriate governing body however if you have any concerns about getting the paint on your skin, please wear gloves and clean up soon after painting with soap and water. Paper towels and rags. Yes you are going to need to clean up after painting sadly. I know it’s a pain when all you want to do is paint! Get old rags for wiping your hands, paper towels for wiping out your cups and tools etc before washing to keep paint out of the drains. Be sure to clean up while the paints are still wet because it’s much harder once they are dry.

Other small tools You will want a few other bits and pieces that you might already have around the house, or can pick up easily in your local stores. Paint brushes – an assortment of small brushes for touching up the side of your painting or filling in any blank spots. Palette knife – for picking up spilled paint and transferring the designs to the side of your canvases. The large palette knives can also be used as small swiping tools. Push Pins – these are handy to push into the back of your canvas and keep it up off your work surface, allowing paint to drain over the sides as necessary. If you don’t keep the painting off your work surface, it will be stuck there when the paint is dry! The large ones are a bit easier to handle.

Optional extra supplies you might want to get or later Chef’s torch. When you hear a reference to ‘torching’ the painting, this refers to gently heating the paint by very quickly moving a chef’s torch over the surface of the painting. We will touch on this later as to why you might want to do this. It’s not an essential tool, but if you like this style of painting you probably would want to add on to your tools. You don’t need anything fancy, just a basic budget model would be fine. Don’t forget to order the butane gas needed to fill it. Look at chef’s torches here -

USA

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International

Swiping tools. There are all sorts of tools you can use to create swiped paintings. Many like an offset cooking palette knife like the sort used to spread fondant on a cake. This is ideal for larger swipes. You can also use small decorating tools, sheets of acetate or plastic, grouting tools etc. You will probably want to experiment with a few and see which ones give which sort of effects.

Mixing your paints OK so you have your basic supplies ready. First thing you need to do is mix some paints. We won’t get too technical here, but it’s important that your paints all have a similar ‘flow’ to them, so if you added a dab of paint of each color on a card and tilted it, all paints should run down the card at a similar speed. You don’t want to have some paints thick and not moving, some all thin and runny and some that are somewhere in the middle. If your paints are too thick, you will struggle to get cells because the paints will be too thick and heavy to interact well and you won’t get one paint able to move up through another color to get those multi-colored cells you might be looking for. On the other hand, if your paints are too thin and runny, when you mix them in a cup or tilt them on the canvas, they will all run into each other, the colors will mix and you will get a muddy dark result which is not pleasant. I know, I did plenty like this when I first started. Describing in words the right consistency is difficult. I have heard it described as: • • • •

Pancake syrup Melted ice cream Pouring cream Melted butter

Let’s see if we can mix up some of these craft paints and get them to about the right consistency for a pour. Because we are working in small measurements here, I am going to work in weight by grams as they are the most accurate. Small variations really aren’t going to make a huge difference, but if you added double the water for example or half the paint, you would of course expect to get different results. This recipe is scalable so if you want twice as much paint you simply double all of the numbers. However when mixing large amounts, add water with caution as things tend to change when you scale up a lot, such as when you cook 4 large potatoes in a microwave. It doesn’t always take 4 times the cooking time as a single potato.

How much paint do I need? When you start out, it’s better to mix a little more than you need because it will mean you don’t need to tip your canvas as much to get full coverage, and this can help keep any cells. This handy resin calculator should give you an idea of how much paint – but this is for resin so is only a guide. Include the sides of your canvas in the calculation and include an extra 20-25% or so to allow for the paint that flows over the sides. I’ll be interested in your if you use this – did it work out for you?

Our basic paint recipe I have a video showing the mediums we will be using and the paint mixing to help you get the best recipe, results and consistency for your paints.

https://youtu.be/BttTHOYeI54

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE VIDEO

Step 1 - create our own fluid medium to add to the paint Our own fluid medium recipe: • • •

Floetrol = 40g Liquitex Pouring Medium = 10g Water = 10g

Mix well to combine the three ingredients.

Step 2 – add the fluid medium to our craft paints Craft paints (brands as described earlier under materials) = 20g Add 10-12g of our own mixed fluid medium

Even within the same brand, some paint colors might be slightly thicker or thinner than others as they come out of the bottle. Especially the white which seems to vary quite a lot between brands. If your paints still seem to thick, add water just a few drops at a time and watch the video for the consistency you are looking for.

TIP - If you don’t have an accurate scale, you can replicate approximately using volumes instead of weights. Use a set of kitchen measuring spoons in ml instead of grams. 1 tablespoon is 15ml, 1 teaspoon is 5ml.

First mix your fluid medium, combining the Floetrol, the Pouring Medium and water. Measure the paint and add in the pre-mixed fluid medium as per the recipe above. Mix it well until the paint is smooth and the water is completely combined. Use the stick to scrape the sides and the bottom of the cup and get all the paint mixed in. Mix well but don’t mix too vigorously because you don’t want to add too many bubbles into the paint. Take a look at the consistency of the paint. When you pick it up on the stick, it should sit on top like a little bubble. When you tip the stick point down, the paint should slide off in a creamy single stream and then drip a little at the end. If it drips off in big gloopy bits the paint is too thick. If it doesn’t stream off, but just thinly drips off, then the paint is too thin. Even though you are using the suggested craft paints, some brands may be thicker or thinner than others. Even within brands, some colors may be thicker or thinner than others. You can use the basic recipe as a starting point but you still have to become familiar with the correct consistency just in case you need to adjust your recipe.

Using different types of paints With some practice, you will soon get the hang of it and be able to mix other types of paint with different recipes and get the same pouring results. Tube paints and other thicker paints will need more water added to get them thinned to the right pouring consistency. This is where you will start to develop your own recipe based on the paints you like to use, and the other materials you have available such as the choice of pouring mediums and additives. There are as many recipes as there are in our group. There is no right or wrong way that can be applied to all paints – it just has to come by trial and error, your own experiments and the effects that you are looking to create with your paints.

Do you want to try to get cells in this painting? Not all paintings have to be filled with cells. There are many awesome fluid acrylic paintings that don’t have a single cell and are still full of life, color, movement and emotion. Don’t think that your painting is not a success if it doesn’t have cells. That’s just not true. They are only a small part of what might make a painting interesting and successful. Choose your colors carefully, decide on the look of your painting and how you want people to feel about it. Do you want it calm and serene? Fiery and jumping off the canvas? Earthy and organic? Each color palette and style has its own appeal. Develop your own style, your own signature colors and make your paintings recognisable as your own work! If you don’t want cells, then use the basic recipe above, no need for any additional additives. You might find that you do still get some cells anyway, just by mixing paints of differing densities and that is all part of the interesting nature of this style of art.

TIP - Some painting techniques will produce more cells than others. Doing a ‘regular’ pour where you lay the colors on the canvas side by side is unlikely to create cells because the paints don’t mix over and through each other enough. Dirty pours, flip cups and swipes are more likely to create cells.

Additives to get cells in your painting If you would like to try to get cells in your painting, then adding one of the additives I mentioned before can help with that. For our basic cell-making recipe I suggest that you add JUST ONE DROP of the Coconut Milk Hair Serum to half of your paints and JUST ONE DROP of the Treill Belt Silicone to the other half of your paints.

https://youtu.be/sYcsu-BQeng

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE VIDEO

Suggested additives for cells: 1 drop of Coconut Milk Hair Serum into half of the colors 1 drop of Treill Belt Silicone into the other half of the colors If you have an odd number of colors, use the hair serum as the extra drop.

One drop is a good starting point for around 20g of craft paint. For a more dramatic effect you can add two drops, but rarely will adding a more create more cells from that point onwards.

If you have mixed four paints, add a drop of hair serum to two of them and add a drop of treill belt silicone to the other two. If you have mixed five paints, use the hair serum in three and the treill silicone in two. Mix the additives in well to your paints to distribute them but don’t actually whisk up the paints too briskly. The additives just need to be broken up with in the paint, not actually beaten up into the colors.

TIP - Going forward, experiment with your recipe and see what gives you the best results. You may find that you only need to add a single drop to just half of your paints and still will create great cells – and have less to clean off later!

Note – some of the other videos on my channel that I link to in this guide may include details for other recipes which you can try later. Many of these use different oils and a torch to create cells. While you are starting out, I recommend sticking to the basic ‘get started recipe’ and the additives I recommend above. You can start to develop your own recipe from there.

Setting a level surface Whatever way you chose to paint, and whatever surface you use, it’s important to level the surface. You might create a gorgeous painting, but these paints are designed to move and flow – if your surface isn’t level you can come back an hour later and find half your painting dripped off the side!

https://youtu.be/FeCZNx7p85g

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE VIDEO Invest in a set of levels to make sure your paint is going to remain where you want it! Get mini levels here - USA

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International

What sort of painting technique do you want to use? Now you have your equipment and materials on hand and your paints mixed, it’s time to paint! We will cover 4 basic ways to create a poured painting: • • • •

A regular pour A dirty pour A flip cup A swipe

What is a ‘regular’ acrylic pour? For your first time pouring, you might just feel most comfortable laying paints out on your canvas in dots, rows, stripes or blocks and tilting your canvas to move the paints around, overlap them, mix them, and create an interesting composition that you like. Get used to the feel of the paint coming from the cup, practice pouring fast or slow, thin or thick lines of paint. Get used to the way the paint moves on the canvas, how fast, how much to tilt, and so on. It’s a good simple introduction and an important learning step as you move on to other techniques.

It can also produce some really striking results. I recently did this regular pour using stripes of paint added in rows across the canvas and then tilted to make them move and soften. I also added in lots of metallic and glitter paints and created something that really sparkles – but as you can see, this doesn’t typically produce cells.

Check out this article and video for an example of a ‘puddle pour’ where colors are layered on top of each other on the canvas and tilted. This is another form of the regular pour.

Click here - Puddle Pouring with Citrus Colors

What is a Dirty Pour? If you are new to painting and especially to pouring, when someone first mentions doing a dirty pour you might do a double take. What is a dirty pour? What exactly do they mean by that term? Why is it dirty? Do they mean that the paints are dirty colors, or that there is something ‘dirty’ about it; like they’ll be pouring paint while dressed only in their underwear? It is some kind of painting fetish that you don’t know about? I it the first time I heard the term I didn’t know what to think, but it didn’t sound an attractive way to paint at all! Who wants a dirty painting? In fact, many of the acrylic pours you’ll likely enjoy doing, if not most, are dirty pours. It’s simply a term for mixing more than one paint color in the same container before adding it to the canvas or substrate. You can add two, three, four or more pre-mixed colors into your cup or container, and then pour them onto your canvas in a single puddle, in a circle, a square, rows or just randomly across the canvas. The paints mix as they leave the cup blending the colors and creating interesting and sometimes unexpected colors and results. You will usually then tilt the canvas back and forth to move the paint, cover the canvas and the sides and create a composition that you find pleasing. Gravity creates the painting for you!

Example of a dirty pour – closeup

On a larger canvas, several different dirty pour cups might be needed. You can even create ‘double dirty pours’ by using different colors in different cups, such as a blend of blues and greens in one cup, and then reds and yellows in another cup. When poured separately onto the canvas these two different dirty pours can be blended or kept more separate according to the look you are hoping to achieve.

A double dirty pour using two cups with different colors

It can be a lot of fun. Nothing dirty about it – unless you choose colors that don’t work together well in which case you could end up with ‘muddy’ colors. Luckily there are plenty of videos to put you on the right track with this acrylic pouring term. Check out some of my videos below that use a dirty pour: •

Blue and green stripy dirty pour

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Double dirty pour beach (as seen above)

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Dirty pour with left over paints

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Strata, double dirty pour

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My dirty pour playlist on YouTube

Dirty pours can certainly create cells. Add multiple colors into a single cup and as the colors mix and any additives do their work, cells may even start to build in your cup before the paint is poured onto the canvas. Pour the paint, tilt the paint and even more cells might appear before your eyes. It can be a magical process. Once you’ve tried out a dirty pour, let’s add another technique with the Flip Cup.

How to do a flip cup painting If cells are your goal, then the flip cup most likely will give you the best way of getting them so far. We start out exactly the same way. Mix your paints according to the basic recipe. If you want to, add in your additives to each of your paints. Now layer the paints into the cup. Depending on how much you want your colors to mix, you can add the colors all in just once, or add half of each of the paints and then go back around again and add in the other half of your paints so you have two layers of each color. If you really want a mix of colors and a busier look then you can add in three rounds of color. I wouldn’t do any more than three or it could become overly mixed and you may not end up with the colors you are expecting.

https://youtu.be/EoTIyR7jZWI

CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE VIDEO Here are some other flip cup paintings and videos you might enjoy: • • • •

Dirty pouring with a magic ingredient – and what can happen if your surface warps… CYM Primary color flip on black background Flip cup with negative space My Flip Cup playlist on YouTube

Creating cells with a ‘swipe’ Sometimes if you struggle to get cells any other way, the swipe might be your easiest way. All paints are different, but when I was starting out, the swipe was my favorite technique. (It’s still my favorite now too 😉😉)

A swipe creates cells by accelerating one paint over another. This interaction causes the heavier more dense paint to sink and the lighter paint to rise up through, creating the cells of color that we all enjoy. There are lots of ways you can use color in a swipe. You can swipe with white, swipe with black, swipe with another color such as gold – or not use any specific swipe color at all and just swipe over all the paints. Check out these videos for examples of swipes. Swiping with white Swiping with black – is one black better than another? Midnight Garden black swipe Swiping with gold Swiping in two directions Swiping with thinner paints Does swiping speed matter? 3-color swipe challenge My YouTube swiping playlist

But what if you still don’t get cells? Sometimes your paints and your recipe just don’t work. It might have worked for you last week and then this week you use different colors, and no cells. Does this mean your painting is a failure? Or that it’s a bad painting? Absolutely not! Some of my favorite paintings have no cells at all, and some of the most stunning works you will see shared in our Facebook Group don’t have cells.

There is far more to creating a great work of art than filling it will cells. I encourage you to expand your horizons, be inspired by other artists, their styles, color schemes, energy. Create your own style of painting and just be YOU! Create what makes you happy, and don’t get hung up on creating an explosion of cells. It’s honestly not always needed to make great art. For more reading and inspiration - Is my painting a failure if I don’t get cells?

How long does it take the paint to dry? How long your painting takes to fully dry depends on a number of factors.

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How thick was the paint? If your paint was spread thinner on your painting surface then it will dry quicker than if a thicker layer of paint was left.

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What surface are you using? A canvas allows air to flow on all sides and will dry quicker than a wooden which may be slightly porous, which in turn will dry quicker than something like a ceramic tile.

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How big is the painting? A smaller painting will dry quicker than a larger painting. Drying takes place from the outside in, so a larger painting takes longer to dry all the way through to the middle than a smaller one.

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What do you mean by ‘dry’? o Do you mean dry enough to move? In that case your painting should be OK to move in about 24 hours if it’s an average size. o Dry enough to hold it – depends on the factors above. Minimum 48 hours to be sure. o Dry enough to safely touch it in the middle? Depends again – maybe 2-4 days. o Dry enough to varnish – again depending on the factors above – I suggest leaving it at least 7 days. I leave my ceramic tiles at least 10 days before I varnish them. o Dry enough to fully cure all the way through – 30 days +

When your painting is dry, it will usually look uniform all over, with no areas appearing thicker or glossier than others. If in doubt – don’t touch it! Your paints will dry on the surface before they dry all the way through. Don’t put your finger in there to see if it is dry- if you are in any doubt then it most likely is not dry all the way through. Better to be patient and leave it a bit longer than to ruin it with a big finger print in the middle. If you want to see what happens when you try to varnish before it’s dry all the way through – I really spoiled this one that I loved ☹

How to clean the surface of your painting ready for sealing If you have used a silicone or dimethicone oil product in your paints, then you need to clean these from the surface of your painting before you can think about adding any kind of finish. These are oil based products and won’t mix well with the water-based finishes such as sprays and liquid varnishes. You will get areas where the varnish won’t ‘stick’ to the oil, and will spread away from the oil. To clean the surface of your painting: 1. Be VERY sure that your painting is dry all the way through before starting. 2. Use an absorbent powder such as talc or corn-starch and lightly sprinkle it all over the surface of the painting. 3. Using circular motions, rub the powder round and round on the surface of the painting to absorb any oil. 4. You may notice that the powder sticks slightly to the more oily areas or beads up and becomes thick. That’s OK, it means that it is doing its job and soaking up the oil. 5. Brush off the powder and clean off any remaining with a dry towel. 6. Wipe down the surface of the painting carefully with a wet wipe to remove any remnants of the powder and allow it to dry. 7. Take a look at the surface in good light and move the painting about. Do you see any glossy or oily looking patches? If so, repeat steps above until you are happy that all of the oil is removed. You can find a simple Step By Step and links to suitable products for cleaning your painting here.

What should I use to make my painting shiny again? In our Facebook Group, the question comes up a lot about the best way to bring shine and a nice glossy finish back to the dried paintings. Acrylic paints can dry rather dull and darker than when wet, but adding back a glossy finish and brightening up those colors again is easy!

WHY ‘PROTECT’ YOUR PAINTINGS? 1. Cleaning. A protective top coat on your paints can keep off dust and other dirt or marks that could build up over time and discolor the painting. It would also protect it from splashes and create a water-resistant finish. That doesn’t mean you should rinse off your painting under the tap if it’s dusty, but a wipe with a lightly damp cloth shouldn’t do any harm. 2. Colors and shine. Acrylic paints can dry rather matte and dull and often look a bit disappointing when compared to how they shine when they are wet. By adding a glossy coat on top of the dry painting, you can really make those colors shine again, and it helps to brighten them up – like a wet-look again. 3. Smooth finish. If your painting dries with a few pinholes or more texture in the paint than you would like, you can usually smooth out the surface by using a self-levelling protective finish. The more layers you add, the less any unwanted little bumps or textures will be noticeable.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PROTECTIVE FINISH AND A VARNISH? You may have heard varnish used as a generic term for any finish, but traditional varnish describes an older form of finish that contains alkyd resin, oil, and solvents. When applied to surfaces indoors or out, varnish cures into a thin and glossy film with a faint yellow or amber tint, similar to the finish achieved with oil-based polyurethane. So although we might talk about ‘varnishing’ our paintings to protect them, we aren’t actually using a real varnish to do that. A varnish would be oil based and typically has a slightly yellow tint – not good for our paintings!

A typical varnishing session with Polycrylic.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD PROTECTIVE FINISH FOR YOUR ART? You will be looking for something that has these features in order to top-coat an acrylic painting: • • • • •

Water-based (not oil based), with easy soap and water clean-up for your brushes Non-yellowing Glossy finish (or matte if you prefer) Self-levelling Doesn’t show brush strokes

WHY I LOVE THE MINWAX POLYCRYLIC PROTECTIVE FINISH The Polycrylic protective finish checks all the boxes for me when it comes to protecting my artworks. It’s easy to use, you can really put it on nice and thick and there are never any brush strokes. It self-levels so it spreads and smooths out a little like a resin. It’s glossy, and it’s not too expensive. I can easily wash out my brush after and it never hardens. There were questions raised in the Facebook group about whether it would yellow so I wrote to MinWax and asked them all about it, and which of their product range would be best for protecting acrylic paintings. They said: “the only products we offer that will be suitable for use over paint would be the Polycrylic or the Water-Based Helmsman Spar Urethane. Neither of these coatings will amber over time, which is typical with other polyurethane type products. To apply this product, however, you will need to allow the paint to fully cure (at least 30 days) first. This will prevent the solvents in our products from reacting with those still remaining in a still-curing paint coating, avoiding the color running, discoloring or hazing. Apply your clear finish per label directions. You should have pleasing results for your project. “

That was interesting advice about allowing the acrylic paint to fully cure before applying the top coat and I think that would be good advice to follow whatever top coat you decide to use. I usually leave it about 10 days and so far (fingers crossed) I’ve never had any issues with this finish. The Polycrylic comes in matte, satin, semi-gloss and gloss. You can get it in a spray can (which I’ve never tried) or in various different sized cans. Recoating time is 2 hours and it’s fully dry in 24hrs. So if you are looking for a nice glossy and easy to use finish for your paintings, give Polycrylic a try. You can get it here: USA / International I will be testing out other finishing and varnishing products in the future (including spray finishes) and will report back on the website and in our group about my findings.

Selling your paintings You may soon become addicted to pouring and swiping and create a lot of gorgeous paintings. If you want to try setting up an Etsy store to sell your work, I have a special link from Etsy for our group to give you 40 free listings, each one live for 4 months. You can try out a store for free, list 40 items at no charge and see how you get on. Don’t forget to tell everyone about your store and your art. You can read more and sign up for this special offer here.

Other suggested reading and resources: Best painting YouTube channels to watch Beginners acrylic pouring tips – things I wish I could tell myself when I was starting

Wrap up Thank you for buying this Get Started Guide. I hope it has given you the information you need to create your first acrylic pours, or create your first cells if that is your goal. Please do come and share your success and your great art in the Acrylic Pouring Facebook Group. I look forward to seeing you there soon.

the Facebook Group