Flip Cups & Other Fun Techniques
This section contains some of the funnest techniques I've tried yet, including the incredibly easy flip cup technique, as well as techniques that don't fit into any specific box. Some of which I would consider more "freestyle" art.
Rainbow flip cup in which I layered the rainbow colors in a cup, along with a good amount of gold and some iridescent colors which helped to create the cells you see. Flip cups are great at creating cells.
This piece used a lot of my left over pearl paints I had previously mixed for another piece and has a lot of amazing sheen that can't really be seen in this picture. I then put down the green paint and used a balloon to press the green sections. Then I tilted the panel to stretch the paint out. I didn't have any plan going into this piece other than "use a balloon" so I am super happy with the amazing results I got!
How cool is this piece?! I began by putting down paints in stripes, alternating with a metallic grey-purple. Then I laid a section large bubble wrap, bubble side down, on top. I pressed lightly down, then peeled the bubble wrap up slowly and used a turn table to spin out the design. So fun!
Tranquility | I really love how this piece turned out. It looks like a receding ocean wave on pink sand to me. This is a flip cup with plenty of iridescent colors throughout, creating all those great cells.
This is a pour through a small strainer (purchased just for this), which is why there are distinct lines of teal you can make out in the purple. I have had people say they see shells, frustrations, squids, and or aliens in this piece. That is part of what makes abstract art so great in my opinion.
Believe it or not, this piece was created by doing a rainbow flip cup on a different painting, then tilting that painting over the top of this one, then stretching this one out. You can see I did get some overmixing of colors here, with those brownish tones, but the amount of shine you get with the iridescent and metallic colors makes this a joy to behold in the right light.
I would consider this piece a true freestyle. I put paint on the canvas kind of "willy nilly" and used a straw to blow it around some then stretched it out. The silver areas did create some great lacing. Overall I think it is a fun piece, but not one of my favorites.
How great is this rainbow flip cup?! I started my cup with gold on the bottom because the first color you put in will be the last color out of the cup and I wanted the gold to be prominent. After I released the paint from the cup I tilted the canvas until I got the composition I was looking for.