I’ve been wondering this for a while. Do I need to use silicone oil in my swipe paintings? Do I need to use it in my swipe color or just the other colors? What would happen if I left out the silicone oil and did a swipe without out? Could I make cells?
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I set up a quick side by side test using some paints that I am not too fond of – greens naturally. In my tests and experiments, I often use my leftover paints or my ugly colors, and I like to paint on ceramic tiles because they are easy to clean off failed projects and use them again. I suspected at least 1 of these wouldn’t work out.
I tried:
1 – no silicone in any of the colors or the swipe color
2 – silicone in the colors but not in the white I was swiping with
3 – silicone in all the paints
Materials used in this painting:
Liquitex Basics in Light Aqua Green and Light Green Permanent
Pebeo Studio Acrylics in Blue Green iridescent
Titanium white
Floetrol
Treadmill belt lubricant
Ceramic tiles
Recipe:
All the paints were mixed 1 part Floetrol to 2 parts paint plus water as needed. I added silicone to the paints in turn, according to the terms of the experiment.
Well, I was actually a bit surprised that experiment number two, with silicone in the colors but not in the white, didn’t turn out better. To be fair, it was one quick test under not exactly laboratory conditions, but it certainly looks like adding silicone to all of the colors, including the swipe color, gives the best results if cells are what you are looking for.
After being told in high school that she was so bad at art that she should switch to another subject, Deby didn’t paint again for 35 years. Then a stroke released a new wave of creativity and she began exploring with dot painting, abstract and eventually acrylic pouring, and at last the joy of working with color returned. You don’t need ‘talent’ to be an acrylic pouring artist – just enthusiasm, some basic instruction, and a willingness to try, fail and try again. Paint along with her and learn from her many mistakes, and you’ll soon make great art together.