A few years ago, I discovered a painting technique perfect for someone who doesn’t know how to draw yet still feels a need to express oneself through colours and shapes.

Fluid art isn’t new; it goes back to the 1930s, when Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros poured a couple of colours on top of each other and let them spread and mix. The science behind acrylic pouring is in the differences in specific weight and density of each pigment. When heavier pigments are layered atop lighter ones, they sink, causing the paints to interact with each other and create interesting and often captivating effects.

The paints are usually mixed with pouring medium and/or water to the different levels of thickness for different techniques, from thin, dripping paints, to the consistency of warm honey, to even denser concoctions. They’re layered on directly on canvas or in a cup, then tilted, poured, flipped, blown over with your breath, a straw or a hair dryer, dipped, swiped, run through a small funnel, spun, balloon kissed…To say that there is more than one acrylic pouring technique would be a gross understatement.

I’ve just mentioned one of the key words in acrylic pouring — consistency. It’s absolutely crucial that the consistency of each mixed paint for a particular painting is the same. For Dutch pours, for example, the paints should be thin; in so-called Galaxy Pours, they’re quite thick. The three Pink Fluids 🙂 you see here are among my earliest Dutch Pours.

Beside the basic sense of colours and composition, all you need is your imagination and your ability to communicate with your inner world.