Monday, April 1, 2019

Mega Paint Pour 30 x 40 Canvas



Happy April everyone. If you love April Fool's Day good on you. Me, not so much! 

Sharing my biggest Acrylic Paint Pouring project today. I shall call her "Canvasouras".  I had so much fun with this one and have to say, it is my favorite one yet. 

Supplies: 
  • 30 x 40 canvas (Michaels had these 70% off so this one was $34 less 70% final cost $10.20 and of course I bought 2  and any video of me getting these out of the store while pushing a cart is for sure hilarious)
  • Artist Loft Acrylic Paints in White, Raw Umber, Black, Gold, Light Turquoise ( picked up a couple of large bottles that were 40% off at Michaels). The big bottles are $9.99 full price and the smaller 4 oz tubes are $3.99 full price. 
  • Zinsser Flow Control paint medium
  • Water
  • Hand Sanitizer (secret ingredient!)






My first challenge was figuring out how I was going to stabilize my canvas and keep it off the floor. Enter giant Target plastic storage bin, the kind that will hold wrapping paper etc. Inexpensive , had on hand, flipped it upside down and worked great!

Next came mixing the paints. For this, I used bigger cups ( 12-16 oz red Solo drink cups for the white, black, gold and brown) than I've been using and one thing I've learned along my paint pouring learning journey is to get the paints thin enough w/out making them too runny. This is trial and error but I did about 1/2 paint and 1/4 ea paint medium and water. Stir slowly until really well blended. The secret ingredient? Hand Sanitizer! I saw this in a video and wanted to try it. The ingredients really aid in the creation of cells which is something I've been struggling with. More on this below. 

For this one, I did what's called a "puddle pour" which, as the name suggests, you pour your paints to make a puddle on the canvas, layering them as you go. 




I made puddles at each end of the canvas. One was white dominant and the other was brown dominant and I layered the colors randomly, and then took the rest of the the white and black and poured around each puddle on the corresponding side. 


The consistency was PERFECT this time because as you tilt the canvas, the paints flowed and were able to cover the entire canvas and run down the sides. Now for the "secret ingredient" the hand sanitizer. 

People use different mediums to create cells. Everything from WD40 to treadmill lubricant to hair serum etc. I picked up some hand sanitizer for $1.79 at the grocery store. The alcohol content plus the viscosity interacts with the paint to give you the right effect. Since I wasn't sure, I didn't add it to every color and will next time. I also discovered that if you don't securely have the cap on your paint tube, shake it so you can squeeze out the remaining paint, get it on your wall because oops....hand sanitizer gets it right off! Who knew? 


These are the "cells" I'm talking about. It's just chemistry magic. Don't ask me to explain it! I just love looking at them, mesmerized, as they emerge. 


This piece was going in our living room and while I'm known for neutrals, I wanted to pick up the aqua from the globe and tie in the brown from the clock , the chair etc. 

I'm SUPER happy with the results. What do you think? 



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4 comments:

Artsy VaVa said...

I love this project & am excited to try it. Your painting turned out gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

I love it!

freshvintagebylisas said...

Carol
Your painting looks great!
I love the colors.
xo Lisa S

Eclectic Red Barn said...

Congrats, you are being featured on Over The Moon Linky Party.
https://eclecticredbarn.blogspot.com/2019/04/over-moon-linky-party.html
Hugs,
Bev