There is something about filling my walls with custom artwork that brings me back to my childhood. My parents were both artists. And with four young daughters, there was always an abundance of paintings in the works to keep our home interesting. That may be why I saw this as a family project. So I asked my daughter, Emily, to join me as I explored the beautifully saturated colors of the Amsterdam acrylic inks.

For this acrylic ink art project, I put on my artist hat and made something unique unto itself as the technique for poured paint artwork is beautifully unpredictable. I started with four 6-inch stretched canvases that were ready to paint. Next, I cut my four letters from vinyl to create a mask for the monogram art. I then carefully centered each vinyl letter onto the mini canvases using a tool to press the edges tight onto the canvas to avoid ink seeping under the vinyl.

Once the bases were prepared, I chose my shades of green inks and began mixing each ink with a pouring medium. With my base green, I used a paintbrush to cover each canvas so that I could let the ink flow freely when poured. I then used four egg cups to layer each color of ink. And one at a time, I centered the canvas on top, flipped, and let the magic begin.

With a paper below to catch the ink, I tipped and tilted each painting to create a unique marbled image. Then I allowed the ink to completely dry. Once dry, I carefully removed each vinyl letter to reveal the white canvas below the poured ink. Emily then jumped in for a little added cleanup. We used a white ink pen to touch up a few edges. And then we finished with a monogram for each of us. E for Emily and L for Lia, or with all four the word LOVE. 

With our acrylic ink art done, the creative juices really began to flow. Emily tested out the acrylic ink by using it with water to add transparent layers of color onto her portrait sketches. She then finished her graphic novel style paintings with her black ink pen to define the details. 

You can see all of the details of our day creating art together in the video below. Enjoy! And stay tuned for a step-by-step photo tutorial plus templates for the monogram artwork.