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Making Art with a Blowtorch
Flow art is so much fun
The photo above is flow art. It’s an art form I recently learned and I’m going to be teaching it for the first time on Wednesday to my art students. They are really excited to learn it.
It’s one of the most relaxing art forms I’ve ever learned. Part of the fun is that I get to use a blowtorch. What could be cooler than that?
It’s acrylic, which is not my normal medium. I usually go with watercolors, because, well, I love how they flow, and the unexpected surprises that you can get when you paint with them.
Well, acrylic flow art gives me some of the same joy. The art itself is very abstract. Sometimes impressions are created of real things — a wave, a flower, a butterfly. But sometimes it’s just purely abstract.
The only negative about acrylic flow art is that it takes a lot of paint. I’ve had to charge my students extra for the classes. I hate to do it, but I want to make sure they have a good palette to work with.
Since several of my students are under the age of 12, I’ll be handling the blowtorch. They can set up the flow of colors, but when it comes time to get the flames going over the painting — well, that’s my job.
I am hoping my students go home with art they really love. But, really, it’s hard to go wrong as long as they use colors they like. While it’s impossible to control exactly how the colors will flow and interact, as long as you think they are pretty and work well together, the end result will be attractive.
If you’d like to learn how to do flow art — it’s really pretty easy. However, it’s good to have a more experienced person walk you through the process at least once. If nothing else, that way you’ll have someone to handle the blowtorch…
