Last week I showed you the portraits that I painted for Christmas. This week, I want to share the acrylic pours that I did for my unofficially adopted daughter Tiffany.
I confess that I’m not super comfortable with acrylic pours. They are messy, and there’s no way to really control the outcome. I had to hope for the best—that Tiffany would actually like them. I’m honestly not too sure that she did!
She asked for an emerald green and gold acrylic pour. That was all I got from her.
I decided to set up outside. I think the setup took longer than the pour!
I needed drop clothes, Floetrol®, emerald green, metallic emerald, metallic gold, metallic champagne, and white paint, cups, stirrers, painter’s tape to protect the bottom of the canvas, canvases, and gloves to protect my hands.
I opted for an open, “dirty” cup pouring technique that I’d watched multiple times on YouTube in preparation for the experiment.
I had hoped to line the three canvases up to create a connected pour, but there was so much area to cover with paint, and I got nervous about leaving one canvas to attend to another. I was also anxious about finishing the pour before the insects buzzing inquisitively around my face decided to check out the source of the chemical smell!
My daughter came out to check my progress and to take a few short videos.
After pouring, I lifted the canvas and tilted it to create cells and cover the entire surface with an interesting design. It helps to put large pushpins into the underside of the canvas to elevate it above the paint that drips off onto the drop cloth.
I started by pouring white paint all over the canvas so the colored paint would slide around better. By pouring it in layers into the cup, which was open on top and bottom, I was able to concentrate the colors and keep a sort of color pattern.
When the cup was full, I gently drug it across the canvas, which was already slick with loose, white paint. As I released the paint in the cup from the bottom, the coveted cells began to form.
I think the most difficult part of the process is relocating the large, soaking wet canvases to a safe place to dry for at least a week! I was so afraid that I’d drip emerald green paint all over the brick cabana floor and then the Spanish tile in the cabana bathroom, which is where I left them, on top of another drop cloth.
I don’t consider the project to be my finest… nor fine art! My niece’s husband was most intrigued by the artwork when Tiffany unwrapped it. Hubby commented that his interest was the biggest surprise of all at Christmas!
