Pouring Medium magic
A few months back, I bought a bunch of Experiment Supplies. Included in this batch of stuffs was Goldens Digital Ground which I've been playing with, discussed here. Another product was Liquitex's Pouring Medium. I think, maybe, as a substitute for self-leveling gel?
I can't actually remember.
I hear about products all the time, think, "Hmm that sounds interesting!" tuck it away in the memory file then burbles forth when I finally get into a bricks and mortar store. Forgetting, of course, the WHY!
ANYWAY.
Pouring medium. This shit ROCKS! Originally used as a glossy, glassy topcoat. Cuz sometimes ya just need that. But there are so many other neat applications. For example, you can cut it easily with opaque paint, getting a wonderfully pourable drip. Add just a titch of paint and you have a translucent layer. Because it remains quite thick (and dries really fast so be warned!) so you can easily draw through it or paint around parts of your work.
Case in point. I had these small works that had gotten a bit darker than intended. Adding a drop of white gesso into some pouring medium, I painted over what I wanted to lighten, and because of this medium's translucent properties all the under layers still show through. Win!
Another use. When I add photos to a work in progress, usually parts will be obscured and I'm fine with that. But. Because I'm never quite sure where or how it will work, by adding a layer of pouring medium to the top of the photos means I can remove any paint that goes over. It's like the Ctrl-Z of paint (MAC users: Cmd Z). And when I finally get the right layout another layer of pouring medium seals the deal. Score!
It looks particularly awesome over layers of stamped tissue paper or text, rendering those layers virtually translucent, like they're encased in glass. And if SHINE isn't your thing? A thin layer of matte medium or thinned gesso knocks back the gloss.
And I learned just today, a layer of dried pouring medium takes transferred text so well! A swish of gloss gel medium, burnished magazine text (coated paper works best, virtually NO paper or colour transfers) and Voila! text transfer in 30 seconds!
I'm sure there are applications I have yet to discover! I am in LOVE with this stuff!
