Artists find inspiration in everyday life. You can discover muses in nature, family or friends. But today, the online world offers deep inspirational material to acrylic painters. And when you're a master of the craft, you can produce stunning artwork.

What's more, contemporary paintings comprise mind-blowing special effects. Picture art from Morris Louis, Jackson Pollock or Helen Frankenthaler. And a wide range of these effects can be achieved through acrylic painting. Pouring is an effective way to smoothen texture, achieve marbleized effects and add some intrigue to your paintings.

Despite being a simple and straightforward technique, it can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive. So, to help you maximize your talent and the potential of acrylic art, this brief dives right into the basics. It explains what acrylic artwork is and highlights what you need to get started. Also, for the best results you'll find the mistakes to avoid.

What is Acrylic Pouring?
Acrylic Pouring is a Fluid Painting technique involving acrylic paint being mixed with a type of pouring tool and poured onto a canvas in different ways. You let the colours flow on the canvas and into each other. What's more, depending on the technique you use, you can either pour the colours directly onto the medium or mix them in cups and pour them onto the canvas. If you would like to start with the Acrylic Pouring techniques, there are some very good tutorials out there, where you can learn each and every technique step by step.

However, to allow the technique to work, you must dilute the colours. Your best approach is to use pouring medium, which are specifically made for acrylic painting. Even better, DIY solutions can also help you achieve excellent flows.

Today, the trend in acrylic painting requires cell formation in the painting. You can achieve this by adding silicone to all colours to make them bounce and define organic formations. That's exactly what makes acrylic artwork so trendy. You can't pre-establish or determine the form of the cell formations, so your painting's dynamics becomes unpredictable and attractive.

Which Supplies Do You Need to Start Creating Acrylic Artwork Images?
Paint consistency is the secret to beautiful acrylic pour art. Therefore, you should use fluid acrylics, which have a thinner consistency compared to heavy body acrylics. On the other hand, you can also dilute heavy acrylics with water. For top-quality results you should stick with professional fluid acrylics and stay clear of using simple craft paints.

Although fluid acrylics have high viscosity, you can add binders to get the consistency you're after. In any case, it depends on the technique you've chosen, such as coated pour or wash pour. First, adjust the viscosity with water. For example, a coated pour requires a small 1:10 ratio rate. If you go for a 1:1 ratio, it'll become suitable for a wash pour instead. But a top-quality pouring medium is required to create sheets or puddles when drying. Test various pouring mediums to discover the stunning effects they can produce. For example, with isopropyl alcohol, you can create circular cells. A ratio of 2:1:1 pouring medium to acrylic and isopropyl alcohol will give brilliant results.

Canvases are used by most beginners. But you should prepare it with a layer of gesso so it holds the weight of the acrylic paint. And because canvases can collapse under the excessive weight, your best choice would be an artist panel. Also, make sure you have clear plastic cups, wood stirrers, squeeze bottles, pallet knives, and a heat torch. The heat torch will help you remove bubbles and highlight cells in different areas.

Short Tutorial to Start with Pouring Technique
To prepare your canvas, apply gesso to make sure the acrylic paint adheres better. You must wait about 24 hours for each layer of gesso to dry. To protect the back of your canvas during pour painting cover the wood bars with painter's tape and leave the edges uncovered. Also, place a foil of aluminum flat against the canvas and tape it.

Next, find a proper workspace, which is clean, dust-free and has a stable surface so the painting dries evenly with a smooth finish. You can mix your paints the night before you start painting so that any air bubbles disappear naturally.

To start painting, make sure you have your cups, gloves, paper towels and palette knife available. Position the canvas on a raised and stable surface. Uncover your paint cups and if any pouring medium and paint separated, blend them together with the wood stick. Now you can start pouring from the cups.

Recipe to Start with Pouring
A popular acrylic artwork recipe is to create ocean wave paintings. To achieve this special effect, you should follow these instructions:

• Mix a strong blue-black colour;

• Have a metallic cobalt blue and a combination of metallic white grey or silver available and add latex paint additive;

• Next, add silicone and water;

• Mix the white with water and a latex paint additive;

The beauty of the recipe is that you can't predict how the paints will mix when you're pouring. Each time the paint mixture touches your canvas, you'll get different results. You'll always create unique and breath-taking paintings.

Top Mistakes Acrylic Art Beginners Make
Although it may be an obvious mistake, most people race to their local store and buy their favourite paint colours, several canvases and run home expecting to make exquisite art. Unless you're a master at acrylic art, it takes time to be successful and create stunning artwork. So, your best approach is to have all the tools ready and study different guides and recipes.

Not doing proper research can discourage you from unleashing your creative side. It's easy to visit online portfolios of acrylic artwork, but you shouldn't jump right into doing it yourself. Instead, spend time looking at video tutorials to check the different techniques and how the experts achieve amazing art.

Also, rushing into pouring without understanding the basics such as the colour wheel and how colours mix will affect the quality of your work. Even worse, if you don't have a clean workspace, and your pets keep rushing into the room you'll notice that your paintings will suffer from the presence of dust, fur or a random paw print.

But the number one mistake artists make is not starting because of fear or procrastination. Just start pouring acrylic paint once you've done your research and have the necessary tools.

Wrapping It Up
If you're just starting with pouring, you should follow a few steps to get the best results. Learn the basics of how colours work and mix together, buy the right supplies and do your research. Once you have everything ready, free your creative power and practice. You'll soon be making exquisite artwork in your signature style.