Joyce Klassen's Acrylic Pour Paintings

Sometimes, when we're nervous about how a particular endeavor will turn out, we close our eyes and hope for the best.

And while this technique does work now and then, it's not the best plan when you're creating an acrylic pour painting. According to Walla Walla painter Joyce Klassen, it takes "imagination, spontaneity, the willingness to get down and dirty in the process, and the courage of knowing when to quit."

Specifically, you pour a number of different colored acrylic paints in a cup, then quickly turn the cup upside down on the center of the canvas (this is the part where you don't want your eyes closed). You lift the cup, tilt the canvas back and forth so that the colors run from top to bottom and side to side, and then stop at just the right moment.

"Knowing when to stop is the secret to a successful pour," Klassen says, adding that she incorporates additional "secret" techniques that make the resulting artwork unique to her.

Klassen, who has worked in numerous forms of art, from representational watercolor to abstract encaustic, declares acrylic pour painting to be her favorite because of its extreme element of surprise:

"I get so excited as I watch the color evolve and mix, and it often gives me terrific surprises!"

Through October 20, Klassen will be showing her abstract acrylic pour art at Wenaha Gallery, 219 East Main, in Dayton. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.