The artform of acrylic pouring has forever been enticing to me to say the least. Imagine not having to break your back and squint your eyes to be able to get some details of a painting just right! That freedom in itself was what made me watch countless YouTube videos about the techniques in the fluid art.
So with some spare time on my hands; courtesy to the pandemic, I thought why not and got an acrylic pouring kit for myself as a present. That’s right! We need to normalize buying gifts for ourselves #IdeserveAGift
With the white of the canvas looking at me with bored expressions I tried to keep it simple and decided to make clouds. The runny consistency of the blue made a tender thump as it hit the white canvas which closed it’s eyes with a satisfied expression- it was going to bear pretty colours on it today! I completed the painting with drops of white to be able to free flow where they willed.
Along the entire process I kept a symphony playing on my headphones to add another beautiful layer to my experience. There were a few takeaway messages to my experience that I feel a lot of people can benefit from:
Letting things take their course is just as soothing as it is interesting to watch. You have already done your part. What comes next will happen of its own accord.
There is an unadulterated joy in embracing your inner child.
Getting messy with the colours is still the best memory I have of the experience. I low-key felt more beautiful with the colours smeared haphazardly on my skin. Daag acche hain!
When I became more mindful, I started to automatically interlink the highs and lows of the music with the breath strokes on the canvas. If I had to summarize this in a word? Catharsis! The universe is begging us, as a race to be more mindful.
I made mistakes! So, so many of them. The reason I did not elaborate more on my painting is because that painting doesn’t exist anymore! Plot twist, right? I painted over it with something else. I made it into an abstract of Hibiscus.
Mistakes can be corrected and still turn out to be pretty good.
In a world where time seems to be paused let’s try to use it to go back to the basics. Paint, play with colours, make a mess, own up to it and treat your inner child to some much-needed playtime. It will set your mind off on a beautiful journey and if you are lucky your mind will come back to you with great stories to tell.
