Painting on canvas is a creative way for girls to explore new mediums. I loved this canvas painting project we discovered while at the Evansville Museum this past weekend; it would be a great way to explore painting on textures and provide a creative outlet for girls of all ages.

Painting with High-Flow Acrylics on Canvas

The art room at the Evansville Museum offered an experimental art project for attendees: try out acrylic painting on canvas. The twist? Using what’s called high-flow acrylic paint.

I’ve used acrylics on a number of projects, including DIY T-shirts, and find that typical acrylic paints are heavy and stiff when on fabric. “Textile medium,” which is a paint additive, helps in those cases for wearable art, but

What are High-Flow Acrylic Paints?

High-flow acrylic paints are a thinner acrylic paint, with an ink-like consistency that can be used not only for painting but also other techniques that would appeal to older Girl Scouts, including staining, leveling, calligraphy, and mixed media.

Here’s a video that goes into the differences between high-flow acrylic paints and the acrylic paints you’re used to a bit further:

Ready to get started?

Painting on Canvas with High-Flow Acrylic Paint

Supplies needed:

• Canvas pieces – you can either buy these in the fabric store or you can buy rolled or yards of canvas online. You could need to cut into pieces for the project.
• High-flow acrylic paint
• Acrylic flow release medium
• Paint brushes of varying sizes
• Cup of water for each station
• Plates or other surfaces for the girls to mix paints on
• Covering for the table surface!

Project details:

In one cup of water, add a few drops of the acrylic flow release medium and stir.  (Have other cups available for rinsing paint brushes.)

On each plate, put a dime-sized amount of each color of paint desired.

Brush a layer of the water/acrylic flow release mixture on your canvas piece.

Enjoy painting your masterpiece!

For more ideas:

Experiment to see the difference on your material when you use high-flow release and when you don’t. You can see a dried version here:

Or, use the high-flow acrylics for staining projects done for your Woodworking badge, calligraphy and mixed media projects. Here are ideas to get started:

This post contains affiliate links, which support our scouting adventures and this blog. I was in no way compensated for this post; I simply enjoyed this project and wanted to share with other scouts!