My First Two Pours

  Well! This is something I've wanted to try for a long time, and I got hit with an inspiration just before bedtime last night. Of course. So I was awake till 5 am watching videos. I learned a whole lot of different things. Possibly the most important one to me is that you can actually do this without spending a ton of money. You can mix the paint medium (which helps the paint flow and to dry without cracking) from Elmer's glue, rather than paying $50 a gallon for it. You can use latex house paint for your background color to keep the cost down.

Of course, there are lots of spectacular results out there, some REAL art, done with expensive acrylic paints that have intense colors.

But I was willing to give it a try with the cheaper products and acrylic paint from wherever. I have quite a bit, and I only bought one more color to play with. Eager to give it a try!

For those of you who say you never use math in real life, ahem... there was quite a bit of math involved in figuring out how much paint you need for any given project, and then the proportions to mix the medium to water to paint. Anyway, I finally had a couple of boards sanded and paint sealed and their square inches calculated. This technique is usually done on canvas, but my ultimate goal will involve wood (I know I'm being mysterious), so I want to experiment with similar materials.

Then I got all the colors mixed with the right amount of medium. Of course, you don't want to mix too much and waste a lot of paint. I figured I'd have to do at least four experiments before I could get anything I was happy with. Here's my first try.

And this is my second. I like them both a lot, but the second one is more the look I was going for. Can't believe I came close on only the second try! I might do a couple more. Maybe one for sure. I want to try adding in a metalic color. I have just a little paint left that probably wont keep past tomorrow, so it would be good to play with one more experiment.

I've left both of these pictures large, so you can click them and see the larger image. Did I say I'm REALLY happy with these?

In other news: I wrote a chapter this morning, then did yet another store run, and worked on the trailer and these "tiles." I have a meeting this evening.

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