PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS

Here is some very practical advice from a fellow artist Donna Wesson Trull.  You can check out Donna's FB page here:

1. Want to save money on your pours?

2. Canvases piling up and you don't know what to do?

3. Don't have a lot of room for drying paintings?

4. Feel like giving up cause pouring isn't as easy as you thought it would be?

5. Why don't your pours look as good as everyone else's?

If this is you here's the answers to ALL your pouring problems. Yes I said ALL!

Here is the recipe for success at your next pouring session.

First try to set aside at least 3 hours if you can. This method works best if you have some time to play. If you don't have that much time this will still work but you'll need more sessions to achieve great results.

Second mix up 12-20 colors. Don't panic it's not as much paint as you think. I use 3 oz bathroom cups. Mix up 3-4 times as much white and about twice as much black. By mixing this many colors you will quickly learn what ratios of pouring medium to paint that works best for you. It will probably take an hour to mix this many colors.

DO NOT use black in any of your pour cups. It's only for using as a wet base coat. When starting out with pouring this is a common newbie mistake resulting in dark muddy pours. When you get more experienced you will know how to use black in your pour cup.

Now instead of canvases you have 2 cheap alternatives that are perfect for learning and practicing pouring. Save the canvases for when you have more experience with color theory and techniques.

A box of 4 x 4 ceramic tiles is $16 for 100 of them. You can wash them off immediately or days later and reuse.

Another option is Reynolds white butcher paper from Walmart. $7 for 150 foot roll. I pull off a large piece and then cut into 4ths. After the paint dries it will peel up and you can use the "skins" for other projects and reuse the paper again.

Now you're ready to start playing. Pick one technique you want to learn. Just one! Over the course of the next couple of hours, using the small 3 oz bathroom cups again, start loading your pour cup for your first pour. You now have many colors to choose from.

Only doing one technique (example photo is ring pour) begin experimenting with what happens when you layer the colors by holding the cup up high and when you pour gently down the side of the cup. See what happens when certain colors lay next to each other. I found out that when I layer pink and yellow on top of each other it makes a beautiful peach color.

You will find out that certain colors don't work together like green and purple. But by experimenting you will find there are ways to make it work. If you pour the colors from up high the colors will mix and you'll get mud but if you layer them gently on top of each other or put white between them it will work.

Don't get hung up on whether you get cells or not. Relax, have fun. Don't have preconceived ideas about the pour except for the technique. You can watch lots of YouTube (I do too) but you will learn far more and much quicker with the method I just outlined.

If you made it this far Congrats! I wish you many hours of fun pouring minus all the frustration of muddy pours and buried in canvases. :)

Donna