Acrylic pour painting, sometimes called fluid or flow art, is a style that captivates many artists and art lovers alike. The unique, smooth swirls and bright colours associated with this form of fluid art appeal to many different types of artists.
Using a variety of techniques in your art allows you to create some spectacular pieces. Discover more here.
But to create this style, you will need to alter the state of your acrylic paints by using an acrylic pouring medium. Straight out of the tube or bottle, acrylic paints won’t naturally be able to create the effects found in fluid art. Without the proper preparation, your acrylic paints will crack and fade, perhaps even separate. None of this is conducive to trying to create fluid art. So, to get your paints to the correct consistency so that you can create stunning acrylic pour paintings, you’ll need to use an acrylic pouring medium and we’re here to tell you just how to do this.
What Is A Pouring Medium?
An acrylic paint pouring medium is a substance which is used to help improve the consistency of acrylic paints by allowing them to pour more fluidly. Essentially, mixing acrylic paint pouring medium with your acrylic paints transforms them so that you can create amazing acrylic pour art.
Many leading art brands manufacture acrylic paint pouring mediums, and while they differ slightly they create very similar results when correctly mixed with acrylic paint. You might also find this substance referred to as fluid painting pouring medium, as fluid painting is another popular term that expresses this art form, along with paint pouring art.
What Does A Pouring Medium Do To Acrylic Paintings?
By adding a pouring medium to your acrylic paints, you’re effectively transforming the makeup of your paints so that they can be manipulated for fluid art or acrylic pour painting. Many people mix water with their acrylics to thin them and allow the paint to flow more easily when poured, however this has some undesirable side effects. For instance, water tends to wash out your paints, meaning the finished product will not be as vibrant as if left unaltered or mixed with a pouring medium.
Pouring mediums work differently. They allow your paints to take on the smooth, fluid form but preserve the vibrant colours you’ll want to capture. This is especially important with the abstract look of fluid art, as bright and vibrant colours are a staple of this.
How To Use Pouring Mediums
The most traditional method for using a pouring medium to create acrylic pour art requires whichever colours you wish to use, your pouring medium, and plenty of plastic cups. You can also utilise items like plastic straws and palette knives, but more on that later.
1. To begin, select your paint colours and a plastic cup for each of them. Add a small amount of paint to the cup, typically just enough to cover the bottom. Then, add in your pouring medium. The amounts of medium you should add will depend on a number of things, including the size of your canvas or board, as well as how many colours you are using. A typical rule of thumb for medium body acrylics is 1 part paint to 3 parts pouring medium, meaning you’re using more pouring medium than you are actual acrylic paint.
2. Once you know how much to use, go ahead and add the pouring medium to all of your different colours and mix them well using a stirrer or popsicle stick. The next step is to combine your colours. Using another, clean cup, begin adding your various colours and layering them on top of one another in the cup. You can repeat colours and use more of the colours you wish to be more prominent in your painting.
3. Once you’ve layered all your paints in the same cup, next comes the fun part! This is the step where you apply your paint to your canvas or board to create an amazing masterpiece. Begin by placing your canvas, facedown, on top of your cup. Place your hand on the back of the canvas for support and hold onto the cup, flipping them quickly so that your cup is resting upside down on the canvas. Wait a few moments for the paint to flow towards the canvas.
4. While you wait, you can apply a base colour to the rest of the canvas. This will typically either be black or white paint already mixed with the pouring medium. Pour it across the canvas and spread it around the edges of your cup and across the canvas with a palette knife.
5. Next, you can either spread the cup across the canvas to begin moving the paint, or lift the cup directly up, allowing the paint to spread and flow across the surface. Tilt the canvas to allow the paint to flow fully across the canvas, covering the edges and corners. You can blow through a straw to move the paint around and lift up the various colours you want to expose and create all kinds of different looks.
Another popular technique is to use a dropper to apply many narrow pours on a vertical canvas. There are many different ways to experiment with acrylic pouring to create wonderful art.
Pouring mediums also work really well with acrylic inks, creating particularly interesting finishes due to the degrees of transparency in some inks.
To begin experimenting with pouring mediums, you can shop our range of Liquitex products here. Acrylic pouring with Liquitex is the perfect way to create some of the amazing fluid artwork that may have caught your eye and got you keen to give it a try!
We stock a variety of acrylic paints and mediums to suit your every need. Take a look at some of our top picks.
Liquitex Soft Body: The Original Acrylic, Redesigned
Winsor & Newton Galeria: Professional Quality At An Affordable Price
Give Your Artwork A Boost With Acrylic Mediums
Which pouring medium would you recommend for fabric inks and fabric paints?
Hi Unicia. Pouring medium isn’t commonly used with fabrics as it’s designed to work with acrylic paints, which are primarily used on canvas. We’d recommend experimenting with different quantities of pouring medium and paint on fabric before starting any large scale projects.
How do you bring up the cells???
Hi Carol. The best way to get cells is to use a silicone additive and experiment with your quantities of silicone and paint. Effects can vary significantly so it’s always best to try a small scale project first.
Where do you get the silicone additive / oil? I can only see it on your website as part of a Pebeo pouring set….
Hi James,
Sadly, we don’t currently sell this additive as a singular product.
Best suggestion we could make would be to try a hardware company (B&Q for instance), for larger supplies of silicone-based products?
Thank You,
Cowling & Wilcox
Do u need to add medium to already to pour acrylic paint?
Hi Mary. Please could you clarify what you mean by this?
I did! My premixed paints worked much better with Floetrol. I noticed the bottle don’t have ingredients on them because I was curious what the mixture contained. So I did a small test and they either much better and flowed nicer with it. Also, cells were achieved MUCH easier!! Hope this helps.
will treating acrylic paint allow watercolor effects such as blooms and backruns?
Hi Leslie, this depends on the type of acrylic you use. A water-based acrylic would be more suitable for watercolour effects. Some brands can be thinned with just water and others require the use of a medium.
Is there anyway to use paints that are in tubes to mix with pouring medium?
Yes, you can mix in a cup or on a palette.
Thank you!! I have small tubes which are thicker but I guess I could try it. What is the ratio of paint to medium please.
It depends entirely on the type of paint and the medium you’re using, so we’d recommend you refer to the instructions on the packaging or from the manufacturer’s website. It’s always best to start with a small amount of medium and add more gradually.
Ok great. If it’s too much med it would be too runny and too little it would be runny enough correct. But one last thing. Will it do anything to the paint like make it crack etc?
Too much medium can make your paint too thin, which is why we recommend starting with a small amount. Your paint shouldn’t crack unless you use a cracking medium that is designed for that purpose.
Appreciate it
can you use house paint as a base
We wouldn’t recommend using house paint as a base, no.
I am trying to do jewelry with skins etc. I tried 3 for the first one yesterday and when it dried there were lots of very fine silver specks and done bigger than the others. Got discouraged. But I used Aleenes tacky clear glue gel. Would the glue be the problem it should I have put some heavy on it to squeeze it tight?
this inspired me to start painting