PAINT POUR ART

The last few years, a new form of abstract art has developed. This is a rather heuristic and serendipitous form of art where acrylic paints are mixed with a fluid medium, a few drops of silicone oil are added, the mixed paints are layered in a beaker and then poured on a canvas. The canvas is tilted so that it is completely covered by the paint and the painting is heated with a butane torch so that the silicone oil droplets laden with paint come to the top forming multi-coloured "cells".

Although one may try one's best to control the process, it is largely a matter of chance what patterns develop and how the paints interact and mix with one another. Until I tried it for myself I discounted it as a mechanistic and "easy" way to make art. However, as is often the case, trying my hand at it convinced me that there was indeed skill involved and the choice of colours, the mixing of paint, and close control of a number of variables that one can control, made the difference between a pleasing end-result or the formation of a picture seemingly besmirched with mud.

You may see a paint pour artist at work in this link. It is a fellow Australian, Julie Cutts, who lives in Queensland and produces excellent instructional videos on how she makes her paint pour art.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.