Basic, Clean, or Straight Pour:
the act of pouring separate colours onto a surface and blending them to make patterns and mixes by tilting or swiping over them.
Dirty Pour:
the act of stacking several colours in a cup before pouring them all at once, as opposed to individually, over a surface.
When using the dirty pour method, all of your paints are combined into a single cup before being applied to the panel or canvas. The key to this is consistency; if the paints are too runny, they will mix in the cup and come out dirty. Because the colours in wash pours are so thin, this method won’t be effective. The nice thing with dirty pours is that you never know what will come out of the cup since they are so spontaneous. Everything is conceivable once you understand the densities that various colours may produce.
Flip Cup:
A technique that employs the filthy pour layering method, with the exception that the cup is placed on the surface upside down and swiftly lifted up or pierced to release the paint.
try a flip cup or a funnel pour. With a flip cup, you’ll want to place your canvas on the top of your vessel once it’s filled with color. Flip the entire thing upside down and then slowly lift the cup, allowing the colors to spill over the surface. To do a funnel pour, block the pouring end of the funnel while you fill it with paint. Once you are ready, position the funnel over your canvas or panel and let the paint drizzle from the funnel as you move it around.
Puddle Pour:
A method that applies the filthy pour layering technique and pours the paint onto the canvas in a single puddle rather than all over it.
A straight pour is simply when you individually add color to your surface, building up layers as you go. One method involves pouring “puddles” of individual colors that are then manipulated to move across the surface as the canvas is tilted at different angles. Straight pours can provide nice, crisp color lines when doing a coated pour or feathery effects when creating a wash pour. You can also swipe them with all types of instruments to create different effects.
Tree Ring pour:
Similar to the filthy pour method, paint is piled in a cup before being repeatedly poured in tight, controlled circles onto the canvas. The distinct bands of colour that circle one other without blending make a tree ring pour beautiful. More than just physical control of twisting your hand as you pour is needed to keep this style of painting from becoming an ill-defined, muddy mass. Here are my Top 4 professional tips for drawing the iconic tree ring lines, in addition to the pouring technique.
