The highlight of my evening was watching paint dry. No, for real. I spent a good half hour admiring my work and wondering how much more the colors would develop as the reportedly colorless pouring medium dried out of it. I got happier and happier the longer I stared at it.
I'm testing a theory. I think my previously-mixed pouring medium is a failure. It was a combination of Elmer's glue, Floetrol, and water. Either the medium or the way I mixed in silicone, or both, was messing stuff up for me. My cells always broke up, and my colors ran together and got muddy. I wasn't liking much of what I put to canvas. It seemed like the worst offender was the white paint. So now I've taken three of the possible culprits out and will try to add each of them back one by one. I started by making my pouring medium only Floetrol and water. I also did not add silicone this time around, and I used a combination of premixed house paint and Liquitex artist paint for the white. I may try silicone or dimethicone again soon, but for now, I wanted the basics.
I did two canvases and two little tiles tonight. The first canvas was to get rid of all the paint I had left over from the last pouring day, before my procedure a week ago. I had covered up the cups that held less than two ounces each of paint, and all but one were still viscous enough to use (with a little extra pouring medium). I tried a colander pour for the first time, and it went okay. The theory is solid, but I used too many colors, paint that was a bit beyond its sell-by date, and the pouring medium that was suspect. I barely moved the canvas at all once poured, but it still got a few muddy spaces. I carefully maintained the red and blue in the middle, and it may or may not survive until it's dry days from now. I had just enough paint left over to try coating a plain 4x4 ceramic tile. I covered it with everything I had, and it's a bit busy. I'll reserve judgement on it.
With the new mix, I went way simpler. I used four total colors, counting the white. I didn't add silicone or anything else to cause cells. Just Floetrol and a little water. I layered white, burnt umber, turquoise, and gold in a flip cup, and turned it upside down on the canvas. It was just barely enough paint to cover the whole thing, so I ran a ring around it in surplus white. The initial cells stretched and warped a bit, but not in an ugly way. I didn't have a ton of white flecks that look like curdled milk, so that was an improvement. I torched it a little to see what would pop up. As I watched, I went back two more times, hitting it heavily with the creme brulee torch. I got hundreds of tiny, tiny cells, that changed the whole feel of the piece. I used up the remaining paint on another blank tile. Then I sat and stared at the canvas, having way too much fun watching it dry. I can't tell whether I'm imagining that it's already a little darker, even though it's still quite wet. I can't wait to see it tomorrow.
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