Fluid Art Tips

I tried this style of art about a year ago and have been in love ever since. There’s just something about picking pretty color palettes, watching how the paint reacts, watching a one of kind piece of art come to life, watching cells form, and just getting creative with the piece. It’s very calming and relaxing in my opinion. This style of art makes some seriously awesome/breathtaking results. Here I’m going to share the tips I’ve learned to help you avoid making common mistakes and make the best work you can! I also had some tips from some of the top Instagram fluid artists share their tips so go check that out once you’re done reading this. If you’re new to fluid art go check out my beginners guide! https://happilyevercrafty.com/how-to-create-fluid-art/

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• Premix Paints. If your going to be practicing fluid art a good amount a great way to save time on prepping your paints is to premix them. This is also good because it gives your paints plenty of time to be mixed and will avoid having bubbles in your paint, some people suggest waiting at least 30 minutes after mixing your paints. You can put them in a condiment bottle that has a lid to preserve them. Now your ready to begin your fluid art at any time!

• Save leftover paint. Finished with your painting and have leftover paint in a cup you’d like to use later on? Just cover the top of your cup with press’n seal to preserve your paint and cut down on waste!

•  paint your canvas with a light coat of one of the colors your using in your pour. In case your pour doesn’t cover the whole canvas this will ensure it still looks complete and guarantee that your edges will be painted.
•  paint should be the consistency of syrup or honey. It should flow off your stirring stick in a stream when the paint hits the paint in the cup, it will leave an impression on top of the paint for a second then disappear. If it sinks, its to thin and if it stays on top for more then a second it’s too thick.
•  Tighten your canvas/ support it to help prevent sagging from all the paint. If your going to be using a lot of paint on a stretched canvas I recommend to eliminate the sagging by stretching over a wooden panel or using a cardboard block between the stretcher bars.
• keep your canvas on a level elevated surface. Keep your canvas elevated so the paint can drip off the edges and not dry to the surface your working on. You can do this by putting your canvas on top of cups or on a cookie cooling rack (added bonus you can keep your hands more clan by tilting the painting holding the cookie cooling rack)
• experiment, experiment, experiment Try different techniques, pouring recipes, and additives! Get creative.
• write down what you learn so you can recreate similar results. 
• look for different color palettes to try on Pinterest
• Get inspired by Looking at other artists beautiful creations. Go check out my Instagram gallery of art that inspires me https://www.instagram.com/colorful_creations_gallery/
• keep tweezers handy to get any clumps out of your work.
• spilled paint off your canvas? Don’t let it go to waste! dip coasters, cards, paper, bookmarks, or whatever into it to give it a beautiful effect too!
• make sure to get your paint on the edges. It creates such a beautiful finish!
  
• Work in a clean dust/hair free environment 
• if you want to keep all the paint on your canvas try making a tape border to keep the paint fenced in or hold a piece of cardboard to the side where the paint is about to drip off of to keep it all on the canvas
• under your painting where excess paint will drip off, put parchment paper and when the paint dries you have an acrylic skin that you can use in other crafts here are some ideas on that! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOI-7haxypg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTVC02Gn0bM
• Don’t like a pour you did? You can always pour over an old painting. if it’s still wet, you can wash the paint off your canvas with paint and water. Wait for the canvas to dry and its good as a new!
• If you aren’t happy with a pour try swiping it and seeing if you like that result better. If not you can always just wipe your canvas or paint over.
• Having extra paint left over is better than not having enough paint.

I hope you enjoyed my tips!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, I hope you learned some helpful tips. I asked the pros to go over my list of tips and help me add any tips I missed. They were so generous to give out some amazing advice, you’ve got to check it out. (I absolutely loved making that blog post I got to learn so much!!) https://happilyevercrafty.com/some-of-the-best-fluid-artist-on-instagram-share-their-tips/ If you found this helpful, please share it and remember to follow my social media’s! I’d love to hear what you thought of my tips, any questions you may have, and any tips you’ve found helpful in your fluid art experiences.

xoxo, Taylor