Okay, I don’t know if I’ve just made up a new style of pouring or if this already exists—but I’ve searched AcrylicPouring.com and YouTube and found nothing on this topic so hopefully I’m on to something fresh.
I found myself intrigued and inspired by the most beautiful wall in the most unlikely of places—the ladies room of a car wash. This is not a state I normally experience when in a public restroom, trust me.
The walls were big slabs of slate or a facsimile of that medium. Just gorgeous, dark, unique squares of the most amazing slate I’d ever seen. So naturally I whipped out my cell phone and began taking photos. Here are the photos of that wall.
I stared at those photos for days, wondering how I could mimic the look. Two days later while browsing the craft aisle at Walmart, I saw some little teeny < a href=”https://acrylicpouring.com/how-to-pour-polyptychs-multiple-canvases/”>canvas boards measuring about 2.5” x 2.5”. Immediately I got the idea to paint those little canvases in colors similar to the ones on the wall and worry about how to blend them later.
Later turned out to be the next aisle.
There, on the shelf, was a piece of wood painted gray, made to look like an old pallet. Who knows, maybe they just unloaded some boxes and threw this on the shelf, too, and I’m too gullible to know the difference. I can just hear them, “Hey Mike, just leave it. I’m sure—some dumb a#% will pay good money for this!” And I’m am that dumb a#%.
Yes—I bought every single canvas on the shelf. That’s how sure I was that this was going to be WAY COOL. Wanna see?
Supplies I Used:
Paint
Floetrol
KY True Feel
Solo Cups
Craft Sticks
Pallet Board
Mini Canvas
Glue
I ran home and began setting up my container lid with used cups and set each of the canvas boards atop a cup.
In my fervor to GET POURING, I didn’t think through the logistics of pouring that many little canvases and realize now that I should have slowed my roll and done about five at a time to give myself room. But that’s just not how I do things—ugh.
So now there is a mess of canvases (48) all over the place and I’m not doing a very good job of tilting and monitoring the pour. I.e., I’m really not enjoying the whole process as much as I should because of my tunnel vision. There is no logical reason for me to have been in such a hurry and I paid for it.
I ended up having to re-pour about half of them because I totally lost the beauty of the flip and over covered the corners on several, which left them looking…well, you know. Here are some shots of the final products.
The cool thing is that these were the most fun I’ve had doing a pour in a while. They were so little that I could create almost exactly what I wanted. I’m going to do a couple more and see if I’m just as jazzed. For now, I would say this is great experience. After my “slate” project was complete and I had a few panels left, I took purple, black, and white for one final piece. I plan to experiment with more colorful combinations going forward.
So that’s it from your Florida connection. You know we’re melting down here, right?
I think I’m going to move to Alaska.
From my bathroom to yours.
Born in France, Patricia now calls Palm Coast, Florida, home, where she runs Oceans Apart Studios. She’s had the pleasure of raising two daughters and nineteen medical foster children. Now she specializes in watercolor, acrylic pouring, and custom jewelry taken from the run off of her paintings. Her pieces aim to capture the differences that make each woman uniquely beautiful. Check them out on Etsy.
I have an idea! What about laying these flat on the pouring tray, all touching each other. Then at every intersection of 4 canvases, put a turned over cup with another canvas on top, like you have in the video. That way, the drip off flows onto four canvases. On ANOTHER drip tray, have cups ready to hold the final tipped canvases for drying! That way, you pour and tilt one, put it aside to dry, work on its 4 under-canvases and repeat. Sound good?
Ah, but the dipping was SO much fun too.
I think I get your idea…????. Gonna give it some thought to see if I follow. Thank you.
Incredible!! I love this whole story and your video. Who’d a thunk bathroom tile in a public John would be so inspiring. I adore the way your mind works. Hooray thanks for sharing!!
Hey, wanna be best friends? ????. Thank you for that wonderful compliment.
Very nice. Some folks on Etsy are doing these: https://www.etsy.com/listing/596589860/abstract-acrylic-painting-in-custom-2?ref=related-2
Oh cool.
I love your idea and it came out very well. Did you just glue the mini-canvasses to the board. Great idea for left over paints…
Thanks, yes I glued them on.
That is so awesome! I had the same idea! I’m going to look more carefully at your project and incorporate into my own! I’m a seasoned artist but new to pouring and Art Resin! It’s been a bit of a more difficult learning experience than expected! That’s why my ferocious tenacity is a good thing! Thank you so much for your inspiration and beautiful work! I’m dropping one successful piece off tomorrow for a show in Sarasota! Thanks again for motivating me to keep trying. Jennifer
Jennifer, what a lovely comment, thank you. I look forward to seeing your work.
Absolutely beautiful. How do you get so many cells?
Thank you for the video.
Thank you. Big cells come from KY True Feel. Blue box in the feminine product section of Walmart. Big cells EVERY time. Two drops in the cup, don’t stir.
These turned out fabulous! I love seeing your passion (your ‘fervor’!) to get painting – wouldn’t it be great if we were this excited to do everything we needed to do?! And I’d love to see your purple/black/white piece : ) Thanks for your share!
Thank you so much. Yes, if I had half as much enthusiasm for the rest of life…
I’ll post the purple one in the Facebook group and show you.
These are so beautiful. I did a series of wood ornaments (Michaels), for years I didn’t know back in 2006 that you use a a gel to get the bubble look, but I achieved a similar look, and sold them as fast as I made them. These were my “Going through breast cancer therapy” craft along with face painting and other crafts. I love what the pouring & shifting method has done, wish it had been around when I was doing my ornaments.
Thank you very much.
I’ve been doing small canvases for a few years! Only I buy 2×2 tiles from Home Depot. They are very cheap and they are fun to pour over. I wish I could post a picture here!