It’s sometimes fun to venture out of your comfort zone and try something completely foreign. It may make you uncomfortable. It may even feel risky. On occasion, I take that step away from writing and try a new creative experience.

I’ve blogged about my zentangle adventure in a post called “A Cup of Creativity Tea.” My meager achievements are pictured in the post. But what I loved was the peaceful moving of the acrylic pen, the change of pattern, the repetition, the flow, the supreme quiet of the room as the group worked, each absorbed in their own process.

I recently experienced the “acrylic pour.” I donned a utility apron and sat down at an oilcloth-covered table with two artist friends, one experienced in “the pour” and acting as our teacher. In front of each of us sat a small artist’s canvas (with a pushpin in each corner on the underside so it would sit level and dry evenly when completed as it sat in a drip pan), tubes and bottles of acrylic paints, white glue, water, floetrol, and treadmill oil. In addition, there were small plastic cups, large plastic glasses, ice cream sticks, several cut-off 8 oz. water bottles to form pliable, disposable pitchers, and a heat gun, plus a roll of paper towels.

The process began with selecting five paints, mixing each one in its own small cup with glue, floetrol, water if needed, and treadmill oil, and blending the mixture with an ice cream stick to a smooth pouring consistency. Then we took each small cup of paint, one after the other, and poured some of its contents, alternating layer by layer, into a water bottle pitcher. We made some layers thick and some thin. When done layering, we took an ice cream stick and cut a deep X in the paint as it sat in the disposable pitcher.

Then we began to slowly pour the paint in circles onto the canvas like the rings of a tree, adding smaller circles outside of the large circle’s circumference until the paint was poured. Then we tipped the canvas from side to side to cover the surface and the sides. I loved this part, watching the design move, change, expand and contract, bring one color to the foreground, then another, making cells and flows. I stopped the tipping process when I liked the design.

Blending light green, dark green, purple, pink, and white.

For the second canvas, we mixed our paints as before and layered them into a large plastic glass. This time we held the canvas over the glass and tipped everything upside down, ending with the glass full of paint sitting on top of the canvas. Then we slowly lifted the glass, allowing the paint to escape and flow onto the canvas until the glass was empty. We again tipped the canvas from side to side watching the designs until we liked what we saw. We sealed each finished piece with a heat gun, used sparingly, and placed them in a tray to drip and dry.

Here’s a blending of light blue, darker blue, aqua, gold, and white. Notice what happens as you turn the piece and look at the finished design from different perspectives.

It was a failsafe experience. If I were to do it again, I would mix black, white, gold, light green, and dark green.

Photographing these with my cell phone camera was also interesting. Different room lighting would totally highlight a different color. In real time, these look bluer to me. Fascinating.

All in all, I liked doing an acrylic pour. My workstation attested to the fact that I had enjoyed myself. I have the honor of being the messiest painter in the room. Table, hands, arms, apron, and floor all showed my handiwork. Thank you to artist Nettie Roberts for your teaching and to artist Lynn Centeno for going on the journey with me.

From a writer’s viewpoint, acrylic pours would make great covers for journals and, depending on the book, an interesting book cover.

If you want to try this technique, I suggest this website. Essential Supplies for Acrylic Pouring.