Jennifer McCully - The Grown-Ups Guide to Painting with Kids

CANVAS is my favorite surface to pour on. Canvases are offered in a variety of shapes, sizes, and thicknesses. They are sold in craft stores, art-supply stores, and onlineeither individually or in multipacksmaking canvas an economical surface for fluid art. Kids will love working on canvas, as the finished artwork is easy to display.

Larger canvases can sag in the middle from the weight of the paint and pouring medium, so keep a spray bottle of water on hand to spritz the back of the canvas. This will help tighten up the canvas. Before starting your piece, you can also prep a larger canvas by spraying the entire back with water. Be sure to spray all around the inside corners as well, and let the canvas dry completely before pouring paint on it.

WOOD also works well for paint pouring; however, make sure that the wood piece is not too thin. If the wood is too thin, your painting may warp from the moisture of the pouring medium. If your child prefers to pour on wood, make sure to lay the wood flat on a sheet of wax paper during the drying process to avoid further warping. You can find precut wood shapes, such as circles, ovals, and squares, where art supplies are sold, or cut your own wood pieces.

YUPO HEAVY is super-smooth, waterproof, synthetic paper thats sold in a variety of sizes both online and in art stores. Its perfect for paint pouring because it will not buckle under the weight of the paint and lies flat, unlike other art papers. The projects in this book that require YUPO Heavy include bookmarks, postcards, and artwork on larger sheets that can be framed.

CERAMIC TILES are perfect for creating coasters and magnets. They can be found at home-improvement stores and in tile and floor retailers.

CRAFTWRAP, or plaster cloth, is a gauzelike bandage material thats easy to use for various plaster projects and the With All My Heart project (shown ). It can be found online and in craft stores.

CARDBOARD can be cut up to make shapes for paint-pouring projects, so save those boxes from your online orders! Cardboard does warp when used in fluid-art projects; however, if your cardboard pieces are small enough, warping should not occur.

SILICONE BAKING MATS work well as surfaces for leftover paint. Once completely dry (after about 24 to 36 hours), the poured paint can be peeled off in a single piece, forming a sheet of acrylic paint or acrylic skin to be used in a variety of projects and crafts. Silicone baking mats can be found online, in grocery stores, and in home-goods stores.

A CRYLIC P AINT

Fluid-art projects are usually made from acrylic paint. There are many brands to choose from; however, I recommend keeping it simple and using inexpensive acrylic paints offered in a wide variety of colors. When creating with kids, inexpensive acrylic paints, also known as craft paints, offer the perfect consistency for pouringnot too thin and not too thick. If you prefer to use more expensive, artist-grade paints, thats fine too.

Some artist-grade paints are thicker and might require more pouring medium or water in order to get the right consistency for pouring.

P OURING M EDIUMS

Pouring mediums are added to acrylic paint to make the paint thinner and more fluid. Different brands are available and can be found at craft stores, art-supply stores, and online. The projects in this book use Floetrol, a popular pouring medium that can be found in the paint section of home-improvement stores.