"Refresh"

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"Refresh your mind with creative thought." The power of creative thought cannot be overestimated. It takes your mind to a place of rest and frees you from everyday stress and entanglements. What a perfect day to enter into the creative process.

This piece is a bit smaller (5" x 5") than I normally do, and a wonderful way to use up extra pieces of leftover pouring medium. Cropping just the perfect spot is much easier and there are ampersand panels and 1.50" depth clayboards available in this size for mounting the work.

I am in Houston teaching the technique of pouring medium using Golden Fluid Acrylics and this piece represents one of the techniques we will be doing today. The first thing to know about doing a pour is that the "pour" itself doesn't take very long, but setting up your color and actually "thinking" about your color selection is the key to success. In this piece, I mixed up a substantial amount of Titanium White and Pouring Medium (ratio of 1 tsp. .....no need to measure...and 1/3 cup of medium) on a foam paper plate. It is very important to mix and use things that can be tossed. You will be hard pressed to get this sticky stuff off of anything. And it is also critical to wear latex gloves (the kind found in the pharmacy section and I have found that Curad fits most people better than other brands.)

Once the colors are mixed, you can thoroughly wet your paper under the faucet or dip it into a pan of water. Do not use thin paper such as Arches Text Wove. I have found that 140 lb. HP is a good choice for small work and move to 300lb. HP for large works.

The veiled effect in this piece was created by covering your wet paper with a base coat of the Titanium White, holding it over a shallow baking pan and allowing it to run while spraying with more water if it fails to move. Once the entire sheet is covered with white...lay it down and pour the other colors edge to edge. Leave a bit of space between the colors so that the white can seep through and create the effect you see here. Another choice you will have is how much of one color to pour. It can be a thin line or you can go more slowly as you pour allowing more of the color to create a wider band. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.