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Getting Started with Acrylic Pouring

Acrylic pouring is your go-to art form if you want to create paintings with marble-like patterns. It is a popular form of art especially amongst beginners as it allows them to create quick, beautiful and blemish-free masterpieces regardless of how little experience they have.


In addition, they look absolutely stunning as home decor!


So if you’re wondering how to start with your acrylic pouring adventure, then here is everything you need to know about acrylic pouring.



What is Acrylic Pouring?

By definition, Acrylic Pouring is an abstract painting technique that is characterized by creating pieces by pouring paint onto the surface or canvas you are using. It is a specific form of fluid art together with resin and alcohol ink art.


This method of painting allows the creator to mimic puddles and pools in their own style. For instance, you can aim to make a galaxy themed marble painting or let your creativity roam wild and use bold, contrasting colors to create something funky. Acrylic pouring is also a great way to level up your interior with the hefty number of things you can create with it like backdrops, coasters, trays, and even counter tops!


Now it can be difficult to get started without some sort of guidance with the number of techniques you can do. So here, we’re going to help you get started and introduce you to the basics of acrylic pouring.


Materials Needed



Before anything else, here are all the essential materials you will need to get started:

  • Acrylic Paints

The color of the paint you will use is the least you’ll need to worry about as this is completely subjective. What you do need to consider is the consistency of the paint you’re going to use.



Fluid acrylic paints are the best when it comes to consistency. They have a low viscosity and require less paint medium to achieve the perfect consistency for pouring. If these aren’t available, then you may also use student grade acrylic paints or heavy body acrylic paints, but you would need to add a lot more pouring medium to achieve the right consistency as these are a lot thicker.

  • Pouring Medium

The pouring medium allows you to manipulate the paint easier without it dripping off the canvas quickly. This self-levelling pouring medium assures that the results are even and smooth by eliminating bubbles and tiny air pockets that may form along the way.

  • Surface

The best surface to use for your acrylic pouring projects should be flat and properly primed. You have the freedom to choose between traditional stretched canvases, canvas boards, or painting panels depending on the purpose of your work and your own preference.

  • Tools

It is also extremely helpful to have some extra tools to use throughout the process. Disposable paper cups, craft spatulas and palette knives are very handy when it comes to mixing colors so you may want to prepare these as well.


Basic Pouring Techniques

Now that you have everything you need to start your acrylic pouring project, let’s proceed to the basic techniques you can do:

Clean Pour

The clean pour is the most basic acrylic pouring technique where you pour different colors on the surface one at a time. You can either get these colors on separate sections of the canvas or pour a color at a time and create patterns using toothpicks and other tools. This technique can help you achieve beautiful color block works and abstract art.



Pour

This technique is one of the most widely-used acrylic pouring techniques. As opposed to the previous technique, the process is done by layering paint on a cup before pouring it on the surface all at once. You can even create great images using leftover paint with this!


Flip Cup

Just like the dirty pour technique, you layer paint into a cup for the flip cup technique. However, instead of normally pouring, you have to place the cup full of paint on the surface upside down before either pulling it to let the paint flow out, or poking holes on top and let the paint seep from beneath the cup. This creates beautiful blends, patterns, and even cell images.


Puddle Pour

For the puddle pour technique, you create paint puddles on the surface you are using with a dirty cup and manipulate it by either moving the surface into certain directions or by using air. This method creates a natural blend and is particularly great for tri-color pours as it can even create new colors.


In Conclusion

Practice makes perfect, so don’t give up if you experience some mild issues here and there. Always trust the process, and see how art can blossom from simple pouring techniques. If you want, you can start off with something small before you explore into bigger surfaces.


Experimenting is part of what makes it fun! So don’t be afraid to unleash your creativity with acrylic pouring and who knows, you may just create something amazing.


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