Creating art out of loss

Featured artwork on display now through September at Lakeside Hotel & Casino is that created by mother and son duo of Soul Flip Pouring, Pat and Eric Courtney of Osceola.

Prior to 2020, the two hadn’t worked a lot with art on canvases, channeling their creativity in other ways - Pat as a hairdresser and Eric a graphic designer. When COVID hit and Carey Courtney, Pat’s husband and Eric’s father, passed away from complications of the virus, the two needed something to focus their time and energy on. The outlet they found was that of fluid acrylic art painting, an abstract type of pouring that is described as one that uses “acrylic paints with a runny (fluid) consistency. The acrylic paints react with each other when combined together to make interesting and visually organic motifs.”

The type of art became just what the two needed to get through the days.

“He [Eric] and I have been each other’s survivors. We work together, this has kept us sane,” said Pat of their

The joys of painting

Since they took off on their acrylic pouring journey in 2020, Pat estimates that they’ve created at least 500 pieces, if not more, between the two of them, and worked with a variety of pour styles.

“Eric and I have tried somewhere around 20 different types of acrylic pouring. And we’re just touching the surface,” said Pat.

Some of the pour styles they have done include:

• Dirty cup pour - all of the colors of paint are put little by little into a cup, a stick is moved across the paint, then the paint is poured onto the canvas, where you can use a skewer to “help it along,” said Pat if not satisfied with the way the colors are mixing. Mostly though, the canvas is just turned from side to side to allow the excess paint to run off.

• Flip cup pour - similar to the dirty pour in the beginning stages, but with this style, the canvas is placed atop the filled cup, then the whole assembly is flipped over before the cup is removed, allowing the paint to pour out.

• Ring pour - starting in the middle of the pour and working one’s way out to create rings that look like those found in the center of a tree.

• Swipe - with this method, the colors are lined up on the canvas, then swiped using something like the edge of a wet paper towel or a flexible piece of plastic, drawing the color out to the edge of the canvas.

• Dutch pour - a hair dryer to move paint around the canvas.

• Geode pour - pouring the paint in such a way to create a geode look.

• Using silicone paint to create “cells,” which are bubbles that form when paint from the bottom layer comes up through the others.

“Different paints react to different paints differently. You don’t know what you’re going to get. That the whole..fascination with it I guess. You get a different story every time you pour,” said Eric, who has even sprayed Rain-X on black paint to see what kind of cells he gets as a result.

When they’re not actively painting, which Pat said they do anywhere from one to three days a week, they’re looking at different techniques, readying supplies or just learning about new ways and “recipes” for different styles of pours.

“It’s a never-ending learning process,” said Pat.

Working together

Though Pat and Eric typically do their own paintings, they have collaborated on a few. Pat said that they have similar thought processes, but the path they take to get to the end is often quite different, and that comes out in their works, with Pat preferring softer colors to Eric’s bolder ones.

No work that they have done has gone to waste. Earlier works that maybe aren’t display worthy, Pat intends to cut them up and re-purpose them onto another canvas, the process of which is still to be determined. Leftover paint from the pours is dried on silicone mats, and Eric uses these “skins” to create pictures and other various other projects.

When it comes to choosing a favorite piece of art they’ve created, Pat’s is called “Southwestern” and Eric’s is “Whale Eye,” both of which are featured in the accompanying article photo. Pat and Eric both said they have a new favorite that will be on display at the casino.

In addition to the pours on canvas, Pat and Eric have done pours on vases and stemless wine glasses that they then sell. While a person can pick the color they’d like, the pattern is left up to the will of the pour.

They have also held classes, and are thinking of ideas for future classes.

Reception

An artist’s reception for Pat and Eric is planned for Saturday, Aug. 5 from 3-5 at Lakeside Hotel & Casino, 777 Casino Drive, in the event’s center lobby. The reception will be the only time that the Courtneys’ fluid art glassware will be on display, and visitors can enter a drawing for a chance to win an original piece of art. Most everything on display at the casino will be for sale, minus a handful of pieces to be displayed that are already owned.

The two are excited for people to come view their work, and are honored to have been asked by the Clarke Area Arts Council to be the featured artists of the month.

“Just being recognized, it’s just a privilege…[it’s] humbling,” said Pat.