Do a Youtube search and you’ll find a ton of amazing art created with different types of paint pours. The only problem with duplicating most of these pours, particularly with a large group of students, is the amount of paint you need. Here’s how our group did homeschool art with modified paint pours.

Supplies

  • Squeeze bottles (or small clear plastic cups)
  • Clear glue
  • Tempera paint
  • Canvas boards (or heavy white paper)
  • Craft sticks or pencils to drag and manipulate the paint

Directions

Preparation: Mix 1 part glue to 3 parts paint plus a small amount of water in squeeze bottles. I used 12 oz. squeeze bottles that had measurements marked on the side – so 2 oz. glue, 6 oz. paint, and 1 T water in each.

Note: When I did this demo video, I was trying to save the good supplies for our students 🙂 so I used card stock, plastic cups, and some poor quality black paint for my background.

Steps

  1. Paint background with undiluted tempera paint (not your squeeze bottle paint).
  2. Allow to dry.
  3. Squeeze paint in puddles or lines and tip canvas to allow paint to move.
  4. You can use single colors or layer.
  5. Use pencil or craft stick to guide flow of paint.
  6. When finished, set aside to dry for about 24 hours.

The squeeze bottles work well, particularly for a large group of students. However, you can mix the paint in small cups as I did in the demo video with equally great results.

This modified paint pour project was part of a homeschool art day. Each August, I host this event in my backyard for Green Mountain Area Homeschoolers. I make instructional videos ahead of time and post them on Youtube so the students can start creating (and socializing) as soon as they arrive.

You can access instructional videos from the past four years on my homeschool art playlist on Youtube. Every year, the students complete four different projects centered around a common theme.

This year’s theme is the Classical Elements of Ancient Greece – fire, water, earth, and air. The modified paint pours represent fire, which is why nearly all are variations of red and orange shades. We are exhibiting our students’ work at our local library from mid-August through the month of September. (Belmar Library in Lakewood, CO if you happen to live in our area.)