Another video! Fluid Art (aka Acrylic Pouring)

[kerravonsen]

004 Fluid Art Experiments in Black and White. My results surprised me.
LOOOOK!

Comments

[vilakins]

What did you do to get the little spots - heat it, blow hot air? I liked the smooth marbling before that, but I suppose you don't want holes.

Do people use this technique to create land or seascapes, sunsets etc?

Our neighbour is a bookbinder and makes those gorgeous marbled endpapers, though that's a completely different method. I wonder if you could get the same effect with several colours and taking a toothpick through.

[kerravonsen]

What did you do to get the little spots - heat it, blow hot air? I liked the smooth marbling before that, but I suppose you don't want holes.

I used a butane torch. I liked the smooth marbling too -- I really was NOT expecting the cells to burst into existence like that! I've never seen anything like that before in all the videos I've seen about acrylic pouring; normally you don't get lots of cells like that unless one adds silicone oil to the mix. I mean, you get some cells, but not that many. I was just expecting a few air-bubbles to be popped and for the rest of it to remain more or less the same.

Do people use this technique to create land or seascapes, sunsets etc?

Not that I've seen... generally it is just abstract. Though I have seen people do seascapes with resin pouring -- that's fluid art done with epoxy resin and dyes -- and it looked fabulous because you had semi-transparent layers of colour and it had a lovely depth to it.

Our neighbour is a bookbinder and makes those gorgeous marbled endpapers, though that's a completely different method.

I love marbling, but yeah, the usual techniques for marbling are completely different, involving floating the paint over a tray of marbling gel, and then dipping the paper carefully onto it. Something I feel is much more messy and difficult than acrylic pouring.

I wonder if you could get the same effect with several colours and taking a toothpick through.

(nods) I think so. Toothpick, or a comb.

[vilakins]

Yes, he puts paper over a try of floating paint. I've also seen vids of people colouring silk scarves that way at a fair booth, which I'd certainly be up for if I came across one.

I shall look up resin pouring, not that I'd probably do it, just interested. I would however like to get into acrylic painting. I've done two oils and an acrylic, and I much prefer acrylic. (Hmm, must get those framed and hung somewhere when I find them...)

[kerravonsen]

Resin is much more expensive than paint, though you can do some lovely stuff with it.

I must admit, I have never done oil painting. They didn't teach us at school, so I must assume there was a reason, though whether it is because they thought it was too difficult or too expensive or some other reason I don't know. I have gotten the impression from other people that acrylic is easier to do than oil, though contrariwise, some people dislike acrylic because it dries too fast for what they want to do with it. Which just goes to show that every technique and material has its strengths and weaknesses.

[vilakins]

Oil takes ages to dry, which might be an advantage when painting, but you have to keep the work safe for at least a couple of weeks while it dries out.

Water colours are the hardest as you can't work them too much as they can become muddy, or the paper scuffed or swollen.

Acrylic is easy and I like the clean look of it. I must get round to joining an art group here.

[kerravonsen]

You get the muddiness problem with acrylic pouring too. From the videos I've seen, even experienced artists can fall into the trap of overworking a piece. Because it is a hard temptation to resist, to play with it a bit more.

Alcohol ink is another medium which gets muddy if you overwork it. I guess what they both have in common is that the colours blend so easily, they change so dramatically as one is working on them, and they are so easy to rework, that they entice you to keep going.

[delphipsmith]

I adore the menacing mad-scientist laugh at the beginning XD

Edit: That swirly pour is the coolest thing ever. And I love how it gets all those perfectly circular dots when you apply the hair dryer (or is a tiny blowtorch?). Before you apply the heat it has a kind of Aubrey Beardsley look; afterwards it makes me think of Lovecraft :)

[kerravonsen]

I adore the menacing mad-scientist laugh at the beginning XD

(grin) I have worked hard on that laugh.

That swirly pour is the coolest thing ever. And I love how it gets all those perfectly circular dots when you apply the hair dryer (or is a tiny blowtorch?).

It was a blowtorch. Fueled by Butane. Got it at the hardware store. Not particularly tiny as such things go. But I suppose it is tiny compared to a Propane torch. I wouldn't want to use a hair dryer (or a heat gun) because it would blow the paint about too much. Well, unless I actually wanted to blow the paint about. (Note to self: do experiment with blowing paint about)

Before you apply the heat it has a kind of Aubrey Beardsley look; afterwards it makes me think of Lovecraft :)

A monster with a thousand eyes? 8-)

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I love the mad scientist laugh. Interesting results.

[kerravonsen]

8-)