Looking for paint pouring essentials that all the professionals use to make those gorgeously unique paintings? You’re in luck! These are all the best paint pouring essentials that every level of artist can do!
Yayyyy! You’re considering paint pouring, it’s such a fun way to create a painting! But, if you’re like me you might get a little overwhelmed doing all the research for the best possible ideas. So, being an artist myself, I’m giving you only the top paint pouring essentials.
You are going to learn all about paint pouring including, paint pouring art, paint pouring techniques, how to make acrylic pour paint, types of paint pouring techniques, paint pouring supplies, paint pouring kit, paint pouring medium|acrylic paint pouring medium, silicone for paint pouring, paint pouring ideas, paint pouring for beginners, paint pouring classes near me, paint pouring canvas, paint pouring youtube|paint pouring videos, acrylic pour painting for sale and more!
As an artist myself with decades of painting under my belt, I can tell you first hand everything you need to know to become an expert on paint pouring!
This post is all about paint pouring essentials
1.Paint pouring
Pour Painting is a method of painting incorporating unconventional painting supplies and applying it to a canvas without the use of a brush. It’s so easy, all skill levels and ages can enjoy this!
Interesting and differing results are achieved with this fluid painting method, read on!
2. Paint pouring supplies
Really all the paint pouring supplies you need are a flat surface (canvas, cardboard, canvas pad or board), acrylic paint and something to thin it with like water or an acrylic medium that you can buy at most craft stores or online.
But if you’ve tried that and want to get a bit more serious, these are other items to use:
- Canvas, Cardboard, Panel, or any hard level surface
- Plastic Cups, Spoons, and Tarp
- Gloves
- Pouring Medium
- Acrylic Paint
And these items are optional:
- Hair Dryer with a cold button and flat top
- Alcohol Ink
- Silicone Oil
- Varnish
Perfecting paint pouring is more about having fun and playing with all options, so don’t be afraid to come up with your own paint pouring supplies!
3.Paint pouring kit
If you like convenience (and who doesn’t 😊), you can get all the basic supplies in one paint pouring kit!
Many of the large craft stores sell these like Hobby Lobby, Michel’s, etc.
Click here to purchase this one that I love:
A paint pouring kit can be more convenient and affordable than purchasing all the supplies separately.
4.Paint pouring medium|acrylic paint pouring medium
Liquitex Pouring Medium is easy to get and is the most commonly used paint pouring medium. Dedicated acrylic pouring mediums, rather than cheaper alternatives, improve success!
To purchase this Liquitex Pouring Medium- Click here.
Paint pouring Mediums are self-levelling – so you can almost guarantee a smooth, even paint film. It lessens the chance of bubbles and air pockets, creates a great pouring consistency and causes your paint film spread evenly without running quickly off the edge of the canvas.
The best alternatives are
- Mod Podge
- PVA Glue
- Flood Floetrol Additive
- DecoArt Pouring Medium
- Elmer’s Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue
- Unicone Art Silicone Oil.
Using a paint pouring medium is a must for awesome paint pourings!
[Related post: 8 Pro Painting Ideas on Canvas Every New Artist Can Do]
5.Paint pouring canvas
Here’s all you need to know about a paint pouring canvas!
Pros:
- Resist warping
- Various sizes and depths.
- Triple primed
- Hand-stretched and back-stapled
- Larger canvas sizes are braced for extra support.
- Great for beginners.
Cons:
- Some batches might have canvases that are not stretched properly.
US Art Supply Freedom Series
- Square and rectangular sizes.
- Available in a pack at an affordable price.
- Triple Primed with Acid-Free White Gesso.
- 12 oz post primed weight.
- Kiln-Dried Stretcher Bars from Environmentally Managed Forests.
- Different sizes available.
Cons:
- Not available in different depths.
- A few complaints about the frame being warped and the canvas not being stretched enough.
Fredrix Convexo with Beveled Edges
The Fredrix Convexo is the best if you want an unusually shaped or beveled edged canvas, click here to purchase.
Pros:
- Three-dimensional, beveled, stretched canvas-no frame needed!
- Medium-textured, pure cotton duck canvas.
- Pre-primed and mounted on a sturdy frame.
- 1½” beveled edges.
- Acid-free surface.
- Available in oval, round, or rectangle shape.
Cons:
- A little bit more expensive than traditional canvas.
There are so many paint pouring canvas options, these can help you narrow it down.
6.How to make acrylic pour paint
Here’s the best recipe I’ve found for how to make acrylic pour paint:
- Premix your colors into separate cups with a 2:1 ration, pouring medium to acrylic paint.
- Add a tiny bit of water (preferable distilled) to each cup and stir.
- Optional: Add 2-3 drops of silicone oil to each color and slightly stir
- Pour each of the colors in layers into one cup.
- Place your canvas on the cup and flip over onto an elevated but level surface (allows the paint to drip over the edges of the canvas).
- Slowly lift cup and watch paint flow out.
- Tilt the canvas to allow the paint to flow everywhere including off the canvas.
- Optional: use a palette knife to gently swipe some of the paint to reveal some more cells and help it to spread.
- Leave the pour painting elevated for 2-3 days to allow it to completely dry.
- If desired, finish with an acrylic sealer such as a high gloss varnish.
It really is this easy! Practicing your acrylic paint pouring technique is fun and exciting- you never know what amazing painting you’ll get!
7.Paint pouring for beginners
If the above tutorial is too intimidating you can use this abbreviated instruction list for acrylic pour painting for beginners:
- First mix each color with pouring medium in a separate cup.
- Take each color in turn and gently pour it onto your canvas or board. This technique allows for more control over where your color goes.
- You can drop bits of color here and there where you think the composition requires it.
- Once your paint has been applied you can pick up the canvas and gently tilt it to encourage the paint to form interesting patterns and puddles. Allowing the paint to run down the sides will give your composition a finished look.
And if you want something even easier, just put some acrylic paint in a cup, add water until it is the consistency of cream and pour it onto your canvas or canvas board. Mix another color and pour it on your surface so that it runs into the other color before it dries.
Remember when doing this to use primary colors or secondary colors that mix well together. You don’t want to use two secondary colors that make an unattractive brown or gray when they meet and mix.
This paint pouring for beginners is a great way to get yourself ready for more complicated acrylic painting pouring down the line.
8.Silicone for paint pouring
Some artists add silicone oil to this pour medium/paint mixture to give an interesting “cell” effect that mimics bubbles, marble or coral.
Oil and water do not mix. Acrylic paints are water based, and when mixed with oil such as silicone the two layers of media will separate from each other. This reaction leads to the cells in an acrylic pouring painting.
Silicone is the most popular type of oil for making cells.
The most popular types of silicone used in acrylic pouring is the WD-40 spray lubricant which has a significant amount of silicone, and it’s relatively cheap and easy to find.
The WD-40 spray lubricant is a great entry level option for those who are just starting out to experiment with cells. However, as mentioned at the start, this method of achieving cells is largely debated particularly if you intend to keep your artwork for a long time or sell it later.
Click here to purchase WD-40 with silicone from Amazon
Finding the perfect recipe will take some time and experimentation, but you can start here:
- 1 part acrylic paint
- 1.5 parts of your chosen pouring medium
- 2-3 drops of silicone in the colors where you want the cells to appear
Before moving on, it’s important to know that using silicone in some cases reduce the archival quality of the finished artwork. One of the reported downsides tends to be that it can sometimes have a yellowing effect on paint and thus degrade your artwork over time.
Similar kinds of cell effects can be achieved with isopropyl alcohol, and some alcohol ink mediums for acrylic painting pouring such as Floetrol.
Adding silicone for paint pouring can add an amazing texture to your paint pourings!
9.Paint pouring techniques
There’s a whole world of paint pouring now, so if you’re ready to dive into this technique, here is the general overview.
Despite what all the youtube paint pouring videos are showing you, all you really need to start are:
- A flat surface. Some artists prefer to work on stretched canvas, others prefer canvas boards or panels that take up less space and easier to store.
- The best pouring paints: Acrylic Inks, Soft Body, High Flow or Fluid Acrylic Paints.
- A medium to thin the paint to the consistency of cream such as Liquitex pouring medium or just plain ol’ water.
- Lastly, pour your individual colors on your surface and smear, wipe, tilt, spray or in any other way blend the colors.
Read on for more on paint pouring technique with nitty-gritty details.
10.Types of paint pouring techniques
Here are the most popular paint pouring techniques. Once you master these- combine them to create your own unique style!
–>Swipe
The Swipe is one of the more popular types of paint pouring techniques. It uses the supplies listed above plus a spatula or a damp cloth.
- Separately mix several individual paint colors with pouring medium plus silicone oil and pour these on to the canvas.
- Then, pour one paint color mixed with a pouring medium, but without silicone, next to the color(s) above.
- With the spatula or cloth, drag the individual color over the remaining colors which will create circles of color called “cells.”
–>Dutch Pour
This type of paint pouring technique is the same as above but the paint is not swiped with a spatula, or cloth but with blown air from a hairdryer. This produces the most interesting, wild and spectacular patterns!
- Layer colors mixed with pouring medium in a cup. The colors are layered in a separate cup. then turned over onto the canvas.
- Let the overturned cup stand so that the colors can settle nicely.
- Now pour a negative color (one not in the cup) around the cup and if necessary evenly distributed over the canvas with a painting knife, include the sides of the canvas.
- Then the flip cup and lower it, and repeat, to make the desired shape until it is empty.
- Depending on level of bravery, movie and tilt the canvas to create the desired look.
- Finally, use a hairdryer to blow the paint from the center of the canvas to the sides.
–>String Technique
This is not a pour painting technique in the actual sense. The string technique is nevertheless often used to create fluid paintings.
- Mix colors separately with a pouring medium (e.g. Liquitex) and water. Ratio approx. 1:1:<1
- Put several pieces of twine or string, about 10 inches long, loosely rolled up into the empty container
- Pour the colors in separate layers on top of the string
- Spread a large amount of a high-contrast paint onto the canvas
- Tip the cup with the strings and the pain onto the canvas
- Drape and wiggle the strings to create colorful patterns
- Then pull the threads one after the other toward the edge of the canvas.
–>Fractal Dendrites
Mix small drops of acrylic paint(s) with alcohol
- Apply a contrast color all over the canvas
- Pour the mixture onto the center of the canvas.
- Blow the mixture from center to the canvas sides to create a unique effect.
–>Ghost Pour
The Ghost Pour is a variation of the Swipe technique and is stroked from the middle
- First you spread a relatively thinly color background over the entire canvas
- Apply various coordinated colors mixed with pour medium (and silicone for a “cell” effect) to the surface in a horizontal fashion
- Pour some of the thin background color horizontally into the middle before you swipe and then swipe
- Using a spatula or wet kitchen paper, “pull” the colors up and down from the center toward the edges of the canvas.
The sky’s the limit with all these different types of paint pouring techniques!
[Related post: How This Amazing Planner Changed My Art Career And Life]
11.Paint pouring ideas
Here are some other paint pouring ideas and color combos once you’ve mastered the basics above:
- Copper, Bronze, Gold, White, Phthalo Blue, and use Van Dyck Brown as the negative paint
- Try using only metallic paints and brightly colored artist quality paints, or a combination of both.
- Use black and white paint mixed with paint pouring medium and water on a small canvas painted a solid bright color like pink. The black and white theme mixed with a bold color packs an extra shazam!
- Similarly, try using a metallic berry color and gold on top of a black background.
- Another great paint pouring color combination is Pink Azalea, Teal Zircon, Sea Green, Golden Gold, Golden Phthalo Turquoise, and Magenta. 😍
- Can’t decide on black or white for your pour painting background? Use a black background on half of the canvas and white on the other half! Then put stripes of blue, green and gold colors mixed with a pour medium in the middle, blow with the blow-dryer, and voila!
Paint pouring is magic when you use these paint pouring ideas!
12.Paint pouring youtube|paint pouring videos
These are some of my favorite YouTube channels for paint pouring youtube videos.
These are the channel links and the YouTube descriptions of each.
Danny Clark – I am an artist in Houston Texas that really just enjoys life and all that comes with it.
Annmarie Ridderhof – MI love sharing what I have discovered
MelyD – Fluid Painting Techniques — MelyD style
Lily’s Mix – Professional portrait artist. Tutorials on Oil/Acrylic painting.
Caren Goodrich – Dedicated to all artists on the struggle! I’m here to share what I have learned over many decades of art making. So grab some paint and let’s have some fun!
Sarah Fezio – Hello and welcome to my channel! I started my YouTube journey after I was asked to do a video on how I created a painting with pouring medium. Then I realized I enjoyed it! I really like experimenting with all of the wonderful acrylic paints and mediums that are available.
Rick Cheadle – Channel dedicated to discovering and trying new ideas and techniques to create art in all forms. DIY ideas for hobbyists, craftsmen and artisans of all levels.
Ethereal Orb Abstract Art – Join me in my journey with fluid acrylics and resin. Art is my passion and my therapy.
Sherry at Studio Pashnada – Artist. Mom. Nerd. Wife. Shoehoarder. Liberal.
Deby at Acrylic Pouring You can follow my journey right from the very start when I first created some truly horrible paintings, through to the slightly better works I manage these days. Laugh along with me!
If you’re still at a loss on paint pouring, don’t be shy about getting some help!
Just do a Google search for: paint pouring classes near me, and it will bring up more paint pouring classes than you can probably handle!
But great backups are classes at your local Hobby Lobby, and Michael’s Craft stores.
14.Paint pouring art|acrylic pour painting for sale
If you want to purchase someone else’s paint pourings, Dwallart is my favorite source.
You can purchase a print of this poured painting from Dwallart by clicking here.
This post is all about paint pouring
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