Prepare Your Workspace
Since you will be working with liquid acrylic, splashes may get on your work surface and surrounding objects during the painting process. It is also important that the canvas lies on a horizontal surface so that the paints do not spread prematurely and ruin the painting. Clear enough space on the table or floor and cover it with plastic wrap. You should have enough space to fit the canvas, paint cups, and other painting supplies on the work surface, and there should be enough free space to manipulate the canvas as you create the pattern.
Prepare the canvas
As we wrote earlier, you first need to prepare the canvas and paint it with undiluted acrylic paint in white or the main color that will be the background of your painting. While you are preparing the paints, the canvas will dry slightly and will not absorb new layers of paint, thanks to which the painting will have a rich color and the paints will spread well over the canvas without “sticking” to it.
Prepare the paints
Take disposable cups and fill them one-third full with the paint colors you want. You can make liquid paint by mixing acrylic paint, medium, and water. Fill the cup about halfway with equal parts water and medium. PVA glue can be used as a medium. Slowly add water, stirring to achieve the desired consistency. Depending on the effect you want to achieve, you can add less water and more medium, or vice versa — you can experiment on your own to find the consistency you like best. You can also add a few drops of silicone to the paint to achieve an unusual, cellular structure. We will discuss this method in more detail later in the painting technique section.
Start applying paint to the canvas
Start transferring the paint to the canvas. There are several techniques for applying paint to canvas:
- Mono-pouring. Alternately applying different colors in a thin stream.
- Multicolor pouring. With multicolor pouring, the paint is poured into one cup (but not mixed!) and then transferred to the canvas.
- Splattering. Applying paint by splattering it with a brush.
- Splashing. With splashing, paint is applied to the canvas by pouring it sharply at an angle onto the canvas.
We will take a closer look at fluid art painting techniques in the next section. At this stage, it is important to remember a few things:
- Take your time. You can apply paint in several layers, so don’t rush and don’t pour too much paint onto the canvas to prevent the colors from mixing.
- Don’t use too many colors. Usually, you choose the main color of the painting and 3-4 secondary colors. If your painting has more than 4 colors in total, it may end up looking messy.
- Prepare in advance – find an example of a painting (reference) that you like on the internet, or use a color wheel to choose colors for your painting that harmonize with each other. In fluid art, there are no repeating paintings—each work is unique, but it is important to set the direction in which you want to move.
Distribute the paint across the canvas
Rock the canvas back and forth to allow the paint to flow naturally and fill the surface of the canvas, forming an abstract pattern. Apply a moderate amount of paint at a time and spread it across the canvas again until you are satisfied with the result. There should be enough paint so that it flows freely across the canvas and does not “slow down,” and the pattern should not be too thin, but not excessive, so that the pattern is not blurred.
For variety, you can use a palette knife or brush to spread the paint. You can also get an interesting pattern by blowing the paint with a hair dryer.
Experiment until you get the desired result.
Let the painting dry and cover it with varnish
To achieve a sense of integrity and protect your creation from the ravages of time, you can varnish the painting. Allow the painting to dry completely so as not to ruin the composition, and apply a thin layer of varnish with a wide brush. Your work is now complete!