Open Cup - Galaxy

 Hi guys,

I have some more fluid art pictures to share with you today. I did another experiment using the same focal colours but with different base colours, with the open cup pour technique. This technique involves laying a base pillow down and placing some form of open container into this pillow. You then fill this container with your paints, slowly lifting occasionally to allow the paints to move out into the pillow (if your container is light enough the paints will move under it themselves without you having to lift the container. Once there is enough paint on the canvas, you lift your container. I lifted mine slightly off to the side to drag the paint and not leave a large splotch of one colour in the centre of the canvas.

The main paints used were Crawford and Black Deep Red, Mid Yellow and Ultramarine. Silicone oil was used in these primary colours only and not in te base colours. The first one is on a 12x9 inch canvas and used white as the base layer. The layering pattern was red-blue-base-yellow-red-base-blue-yellow-base-red-base-blue-base-yellow-base-red-base-red-blue-base-yellow-red-base-blue-yellow-base.

This has been named Galaxy in Pink, as for me it really looks like a galaxy! I did heat the canvas after stretching, which made the star-like cells throughout (which I am sad about - I personally preferred it before heating). I do really love this painting! I love how the primary colours have interacted so delicately and the white has stopped them from being too vibrant.

The second canvas was done with a black base on a slightly larger canvas. This time the layering was red-blue-base-yellow-red-base-blue-yellow-base-yellow-base-red-base-blue-base-yellow-base-yellow-blue-base-red-yellow-base-blue-red-base-yellow. This time the paints did not really come through the black paint, but stayed underneath, therefore heating was required to bring the colours through the base. Less black would have allowed the colours wo be more vivid. However, where the container was lifted has allowed the yellow to really pop against the black.

I have also done a video for this one to show the detail, as the light wasn't great.

The last canvas was a flat 10x10 inch canvas with Metallic Silver Atriste Paint as the base. This time the layering was slightly different - red-blue-yellow-red-silver-blue-yellow-red-blue-silver-yellow-silver-red-silver-blue-silver-yellow-silver. As the canvas was flat I needed less paint, so I made the layers slightly thicker and fewer.

For this one I again moved the container to the side while lifting to spread the paint colours. This was also heated, to keep the consistency between the paintings. The silver allowed much larger cells to form, but the layering caused the paints to become more muddied than in the previous canvases/ However, there is still some bright pops of the primary colours throughout the canvas. This one is my least favourite of the three if I am honest. I wish I had done the layering exactly the same way as the previous canvases.

I would like to enter these canvases into the following challenges:

Polkadoodles - C5, wk2, feminine

AYLI - brights or pastels - I think this set shows that it depends on the rest of the design - the pastels work really well for the first painting, but the black base would not have worked without the bright colour pops

Thanks for looking - and don't forget to say which is your favourite and why :)

Hugz Tinz