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Showing posts from August, 2017

See you next week!

    Last week was a vacation week for me, but I worked anyway.  This week I really really really mean it!  See you next week <3

Fall Aflame - a mixed media painting tutorial

Fall Aflame Cyndi Lavin, 2017 Prints for sale Sometimes your silicone mixture just doesn't come out right!  I was trying for a mix of some bright colors with cells using the Pour and Swipe method of liquid acrylic painting.  Something didn't get mixed up properly, or else I mixed in the wrong proportions, because as soon as I swiped the black across the paints, they streaked instead of forming cells.   Since it was ruined anyway, I tried an experiment, which I ended up rather liking!    Here is the initial set up: White gesso on heavy watercolor paper , paints mixed up (I thought) like in my previous liquid paintings.  But they look grainy, don't they? As soon as I swiped, this is what I got...a total mess with colors sliding all over each other and no cells at all.  Since it was such an irredeemable mess, I sprayed it with some more silicone and watched the colors break up and move around even more.  It was kind of cool to see, so I started mo

The flip cup method of liquid acrylic painting - a tutorial

So far, we've gone through the steps for doing a pour and swipe liquid painting and a pour and tilt liquid painting!  This week, we'll look at the flip cup method. Each of these techniques has its benefits and its limitations.  I really like the flip cup method, but you have the least control with this one.  It's fun to not know what you're going to get, but it can be frustrating too! For the set up, follow the first three steps from last week.  Even the paint colors that I used are the same, and are listed in step four.  Funny how totally different this one turned out from last week when they were the same colors! 4. Pour the paints from their smaller individual cups into a large disposable cup, each one on top of the previous color in this order: Titanium white , Cobalt teal , white again, Pyrrole orange , white again, and Quinacridone magenta . 5. Flip the cup upside down onto the masonite board.  Hold it down and swirl it slightly.  Remove the cu

The pour and tilt method of liquid acrylic painting - a tutorial

Last week, we looked at the " pour and swipe " method of liquid acrylic painting.  Today I want to share a different method that we'll call " pour and tilt ".  There is no one right way to do these paintings, but you will get the best cell development if you use silicone, Floetrol, or other chemical inclusions to help them set.  Sometimes you will pour these paintings and get amazing cells, which disappear as time goes on and they set :-(  Do yourself a favor and take a picture early if you really like what you got, because it just might not last!   1. Gesso some masonite boards and let them dry.  2. Place a prepared board inside an aluminum pan, raised up on small cups.  Make sure the surface is completely level. 3. Mix your paints.  This is how I did it: Small blob of heavy bodied paint in a small cup. Equal amount of GAC 100 (a Golden product).  Stir well. Add self-leveling medium or GAC 800 equal to or more than the total amount