Acylic pouring art has taken off in the last year, so you probably have been seeing examples of dirty cup pours and acrylic pour videos on your Facebook or Instagram feed, even if you weren’t aware what the technique was. Believe it or not, this is an exciting painting technique that anyone can use to create beautiful pieces of modern art!
Keep scrolling to learn more about what fluid painting or dirty cup pouring is, and to see some mesmerizing, informative, and oddly satisfying videos of the fluid painting process!
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What is Fluid Painting?
Acrylic pour painting, fluid painting, and dirty pour painting are all terms that describe an abstract painting technique that involves combining several colors of paint prior to adding them to the canvas. Then, the artist tilts and rotates the surface to spread the paint around, filling the canvas. Fluid painting is as much about the process as the abstract end result!
Smaller canvases may just require one cup to cover the full canvas, while other larger canvases may require several. It can be interesting to see cups with different ratios of colors and additives interact on the canvas.
By adding certain additives, like rubbing alcohol, glue, floetrol (a paint conditioner), silicone oil, and others, you can create interesting effects. For example, some additives create “cells” in the paint, or bubbles of other colors. This is because when you mix paints with different ratios of additives, the paints take on different qualities that make them rise or sink within the overall paint mixture. Some of these additives require activation with a heat source, such as a hair dryer or blow torch, to really take effect.
Check Out the Videos Below!
Without further ado… here are the mesmerizing fluid painting videos I promised you!
1. Fluid Painted Wooden Tray with Gold Leaf
Whoooa. These beautiful abstract painted wooden trays by Kathryn Beals are to die for! Her one-of-a-kind, high polish finished wooden trays are available on her website — this one is still for sale for just $145!
2. Crazy Iridescent Cells on a Round Canvas
Erik Quinn managed to draw out some amazing cells in this one! The video starts with the color mix that went into this dirty pour. He pops a hole in the top of the cup, then BOOM — an explosion of color! The blow torch activates the additives in the paint, allowing for huge cells to form!
3. Fireworks on Canvas
This dirty cup pour video by Susan Johnson Amidon is instant gratification. There is an immediate explosion of color — pinks, purples, blues, oranges, reds — and cells begin forming as soon as the paint comes out of the cup. Bravo!
4. Technicolor Waves
I love the way this acrylic pour looks coming out of the cup, like a technicolor wave!
5. Galaxy Acrylic Pour on a Spinner
The wheel makes for a brilliant spiral painting on a round canvas! First, Nicky J Burch starts out by covering the canvas in navy blue paint, then she rolls the cup in a spiral, slowly letting out the paint. The cells look like a galaxy!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcGUKi5hVg0/
6. Rainbow Dirty Cup Pour with Huge Cells
Rainbow acrylic pours are a risky business — use the wrong combination, or overmix, and you could end up with a muddy mess on your canvas. Brittany Chavez got this one just right though — the rainbow colors come through in brilliant pops in the bubbles!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc2p6mYniTE/
7. Wild Lime and Purple Dirty Cup Pour
Not all dirty cup pours have to start by flipping the cup — you can get some really interesting effects by pouring the paint over the canvas! I love how this painting started as a blue, purple, and red piece, only to reveal a surprise lime green pop in the cells!
8. Purple, Red, and Black Dirty Cup Pour with Ribbons
This fluid painting is just so expressive! Note that if you can’t fill the canvas, you can always add more paint! You can get some really interesting effects by running the paint across the canvas in ribbons.
9. Gold and Aqua Metallic Cells
This one’s a beauty! Gold and other metallic acryllics make for a sparkly finish.
10. Aqua Explosion
One of the most iconic videos of the dirty flip cup video trend, this video by Crystal Ma has one of the most satisfying reveals of any acrylic pour video.
11. Mermaid Pour
Aren’t the purples and blues in this one just magical?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVQO5tgAc–/
12. Sea Foam Acrylic Pour with Blow Torch Cells
Such lovely blues in this one! The artist, Sylvie Escondida, really had a ton of paint to work with on this canvas. She carefully poured it over so that most of it stayed on the canvas instead of immediately flowing off, then used the cup to add some abstract ribboning. Next, she used the blowtorch to activate the silicone and create larger cells. Finally, she tilted and turned the canvas to distribute the paint around the whole canvas. Such pretty end results!
13. Purple Dirty Cup Pour
Ahh! Sometimes you lose a lot of paint the moment you flip the cup. Colie Leigh didn’t mind, though — she just rolled with it and kept tilting until the paint covered the canvas. She used several shades of purple paint here with a metallic brown to get these great colors. She mixed paint extender and hair oil in with the paints to thin them out and get those great cells without a heat source.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXblljtF-K1/
14. Orange Cells Forming Before Your Very Eyes
Got a canvas you don’t like? No problem, you can just fluid paint over that bad boy!
15. Purple and Gold Acrylic Pour
Beautiful! Ashley Carter added purples, aquas, black, and gold to a dirty cup pour that she drizzled over a canvas. Look at those cells!
16. Rainbow Dirty Pour on a Square Tray
You don’t just have to fluid paint a canvas… this rainbow acrylic pour on a tray is stylish and functional, especially once the artist tops it with a layer of resin to protect the paint!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbXYjscH7jU/
17. Close Up of Pink Cells Forming
Nice, up close and personal view of pink cells forming. The artist covered the canvas in a layer of paint first so the paint would more easily flow across it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUxX_YZAb-A/
18. Blue Wave Dirty Cup Pour
Whoaaa… I love the way this one looks just coming out of the cup! And after some abstraction with the cup and a little prompting with the blow torch, this one looks even prettier!
19. Springtime Colors Fluid Painting
With sea foam greens, teals, white, and yellows, this one looks so springy coming out of the cup!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdRt_93HN9E/
20. Mesmerizing Tree Ring Pour
By twirling the cup in tight spirals as she poured it onto the canvas, Ashley Carter ended up with a gorgeous fluid painting that looks a lot like the rings of a tree! I love the way the color of the pour transitions from blues to bright oranges and yellows as she pours!
21. Blooming Metallic Bubbles
Zoom! This quick hyperlapse of a dirty cup pour in action starts out simply gorgeous, and then you can watch the metallic bubbles form. Love how this one turned out!
22. Double Pour on a Copper Canvas
Time for something a little different. This dirty pour actually combines two pours in one. First, a tree ring pour over top of the cup, then the artist lifts the cup underneath to add a regular dirty cup pour to the mix.
23. Pink with Blooming White Cells
Here’s a satisfying pour video. First an explosion of color from the cup, then lots of cells blooming from the blowtorch.
24. Dark Colorful Acrylic Pour
This video is interesting because you can see the exact combination of paints that went into the dirty pour! The end result is a beautiful canvas covered in colorful cells.
25. Strawberry Starburst Double Pour
Beautiful pink pour. It’s nice to see the flow of the paint up close as cells form, very pretty!
26. Tidal Pools Triple Pour
Here’s a TRIPLE pour for you! Three cups down, then a blowtorch to activate the cells. Really psychedelic end result!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdOBu58lVqZ/
27. Purple Mermaid Pour on a Round Canvas
Aren’t round canvases just perfect for getting a really even acrylic pour?
28. Acrylic Pour on a Budget
This lovely example shows you can make fluid painting art even on a budget, using dollar store paints and PVA glue.
29. Pastel Paisley Pour
I know it’s not actually paisley, but the color scheme really makes me think of paisley!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdRJOPYAc56/
30. HUGE Canvas Six-Cup Pour
Big canvases like this one are challenging — it’s hard to distribute the paint evently before you lose it all! I love the look the artist achieved here — the white lacing between the pours really creates a lot of interest in the final piece!
31. Lots of Lacing
Here’s an interesting take on a dirty cup pour. First, the artist covers the canvas in paint, then mixes the dirty pour in a cup with an open bottom right on the canvas. Swirl it around and you’ve got the makings for a very abstract piece, especially once those cells start showing up!
32. Itty Bitty Cookie Cutter Pour
So you’ve seen a pour on a huge canvas… here’s a teeny tiny canvas! This piece will eventually become a wall hook or a key hook, according to the artist. I love how they started the dirty pour inside a cookie cutter — so creative!
33. Dark Metallic Back and Forth Pour
Can I just say how in love I am with the transition from metallic midnight colors to copper to that pop of aqua at the end? Gorgeous!
34. Matching Purple Coaster Set
Watch the process start to finish of creating four purple metallic fluid painting tiles!
35. Red and Blue Fluid Painting with Treadmill Oil
This red, white, and blue canvas was Erik Quinn’s first test with treadmill silicone! Watch all the tiny cells that form when he uses the blow torch!
36. Wild Red Pour
I love this double dirty pour with a streak of gold!
37. Blue Dirty Pour with Gold
Sometimes, an accent color you were really excited about flows right off the edge of your canvas. Womp womp. Never fear — if you don’t like the way your composition is going, you can always add more. Love how the artist went for this bold gold pour when they lost the gold in their original pour!
38. Quadruple Dirty Pour on Birch Wood
Heavy surfaces for a fluid pour like this one are challenging! This artist handles this one like a pro though. I love the interplay between the different cups!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdXS6qXlaYg/
39. Gold Pink and Cells
This one ended up so much wilder than I was originally expecting!
40. Arabesque Tile Pour
Why not get creative with your canvas? I love the arabesque tiles the artist chose for this set of four pours.
41. Wild and Crazy Leftover Paint Pour
When you’re using up leftover paint, you never know what you’ll end up with! Love the cells on this acrylic pour.
42. Metallic Planet Pour
Love the prominence of the gold metallic acrylics in this dirty pour!
43. Purple, Yellow, and Teal Dark Explosion
Wow, I just love all the tiny cells and striations in this one! The purple really is the star of the show.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdjkwrCllu-/
44. Metallic Blue Spirals
Swirl swirl swirl… the sparkly metallics in the blues look lovely here! The artist, Jennifer Voss, is using a tree ring pour to add lots of interesting rings to the final piece.
45. Rainbow Fluid Painting with Cells
Isn’t this one a beauty?! I love the rainbow, almost tie dye or fractal look to the finished piece.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdonb2RHgWn/
46. Pretty Pour Getting Torched
This one looks lovely coming out of the cup, but the blow torch really brings out those nice cells!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdp46qPhER0/
47. Red, Grey, and White Streaky Pour with Cells
Love watching all the cells appear in this one!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdoGNk7H6u4/
48. Pink Marble Painting
The dirty pour here really comes out looking like pink marble!
49. Blue Acrylic Pour with Gold Cells
Getting that cup upside down onto the canvas can be a little nerve-wracking! But the end result is soooo worth it!
50. Neon Flip Cup Pour
There’s always the risk of this many bright colors coming out like mud, but this one looks really nice, especially that first explosion of color out of the cup! Too bad she lost the purple, but sometimes that’s just how it goes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdiyDy6B7LK/
Fluid Painting Artists to Follow on Instagram
If you liked the videos above, here are some fluid painting artists you should consider following on Instagram! Many of these artists post new dirty pour videos to their Instagrams on a regular basis.
- Crystal Ma
- Brittany Chavez
- Ashley Carter
- Nicky James Burch
- Sylvie Escondida
- Jenelle Elizabeth
- R Elland
- Susan Johnson Amidon
- MyDearBambi
- Yana Perovska
- Kathryn Beals
- Jo.T.Art
- Colie Leigh
- Karen Hammond
- Debbie Johnson
- Erik Quinn
- Christina’s Art Room
- Jennifer Rodgers
- Nicole Eyles
- Fluid/Resin/Acrylic/Dirty Pour Curation Instagram
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Cant believe you leave out the best. Rick cheadle. Js
Kicking myself for not including him!! But I was focused on Instagram pours for this post and I don’t think he does a whole lot of video on his Instagram!