Acrylic Pour Painting Fluid Art Recipes with Floetrol Advice Tutorial and Guide

Pour paintings (or fluid art) is created by a blend of two (2) primary ingredients: acrylic paint and a pouring medium. A third part of water or alcohol is usually added, however some pouring mediums do not require any additional ingredients.

Pour Recipe

This is the pour recipe I use most commonly. I highly recommend a Scale.

  • 1 part Paint
  • 0.5-0.75 part Water (Distilled or deionized preferred)
  • 2-3 part Floetrol - Buy Here

All parts are by weight, in grams 

Example: 10g Paint + 7.5g Water + 20g+ Floetrol = 35-40g total in the cup for that color.

Method

  1. Place scale on a level table and turn it on, once on place the cup on the scale and tare. *Note* you can put the cup on the scale before you turn it on for the same effect.
  2. Pour in the desired amount of paint. 10-15 g is generally the amount of paint I'm aiming for. 
  3. Add in 0.5-0.75 parts water and mix, this will help when adding in floetrol. For tube based paint I go closer to 0.75. For canister paint I can go as low as 0.2 parts.
  4. Tare scale and add in 2-3 parts of floetrol and mix. You can be generous with it.

I suggest 4-5 cups/colors for a 11x14 canvas, 6-8 for a 18x24.

Acrylic Paints - Many colors and varieties to chose from: Dark, Light, Neon, Metallic, Color Shift, Glow in the Dark to name a few. There are two (2) main varieties: a 4-8oz tube or a 2-8oz canister, each having their own strength and advantage. 

Pouring Mediums - Just stick with floetrol. It's very cost inefficient to use a pouring medium. 

Water - Try to use distilled or deionized water, but you can use tap or bottled water. It only makes a slight difference 

 

My final point is have fun and don't overthink it. The more entropy (chaos) you add the more wild and unique your picture can become. Experiment!