TWO HARBORS — Patti Johnson had always been a crafty person, but she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do once she found herself with an empty nest five years ago. But when looking for comfort while dealing with the pandemic, Johnson found herself watching a paint-pouring video on YouTube.
“It was just mesmerizing. And I watched another one and another one and another,” the Two Harbors resident said. “There’s just so many different ways to do fluid art, and I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to try this.'”
Paint flows onto a canvas as Patti Johnson creates fluid artwork.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Johnson went shopping with her mother and found her first paint-pouring kit for $80. She made a bunch of paintings and then invited her sister to join her. Her sister asked Johnson to host a group of her high school classmates for a paint-pouring party. They enjoyed it enough to tell their friends, who then told more friends. Before she knew it, Johnson started Paint Pouring with Patti.
Johnson had approximately 450 students come through her paint pouring and mixed media art classes last year.
“My favorite part about all this is when people come into my art studio and tell me they do not have an artistic bone in their body, and then they create something absolutely gorgeous, and they just can’t believe that they actually made that,” Johnson said. “This bloom technique, for instance. I mean, there’s no possible way a person could take a paintbrush and do that. It would take hours and hours and hours, days, months. And you can create something like that in a matter of minutes.”
Patti Johnson pours paint over a canvas at her studio.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Johnson teaches a variety of paint-pouring and fluid art techniques to students in the basement of her Two Harbors home. Students can pick a class that focuses on a few techniques or items, such as ornaments, wooden cutouts, fishing lures, or other functional items like charcuterie boards.
If people are a little nervous to select their colors, Johnson keeps a couple of color guides on hand to help people choose the four or five colors necessary for a good pour.
Patti Johnson tilts the canvas to evenly distribute the paint while creating fluid art.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“If you include more than that, that’s how you end up with mud, and that’s what we don’t want,” Johnson said.
Once the colors are selected, Johnson walks her students through the pouring techniques and helps them clear any bubbles to make a smooth surface.
When Johnson finds a new fluid art technique, she’ll often practice with it and see if she likes it enough to adapt it into her teaching regimen.
Patti Johnson holds a cup full of colorful paint she prepared for creating fluid art.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“Sometimes I fall in love with it, and I practice and practice and practice to the point where I want to teach this to my people,” Johnson said. “And there then are some fluid art techniques that I’m immediately like ‘Yeah, we’re not going to do that one.'”
Johnson has followed her love for the art form to various other teachers and studios to try out other techniques. And in 2023, she attended a large paint-pouring convention in Las Vegas for a few days. She learned from people whose videos she had watched online.
Patti Johnson uses a blend of acrylic paints like these for her fluid art.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
“It was an incredible experience, to just expand and grow and learn from those experts,” Johnson said.
When she’s not teaching paint pouring, Johnson is an X-ray technician performing CAT scans. She said the chemistry part of her job and the art mix well together, but mostly she appreciates the opportunity to relax after work with her paints.
“My art is very calming. You get into your zen zone and just get a mental break,” Johnson said. “And I just love teaching people; it’s a fun way to help them feel happy, too.”
Find out more about Paint Pouring with Patti at her website
Fluid artist Patti Johnson talks about a painting created in her studio.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Fluid artist Patti Johnson examines a new painting at her home-based studio in Two Harbors.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Teri Cadeau is a features reporter for the Duluth News Tribune. Originally from the Iron Range, Cadeau has worked for several community newspapers in the Duluth area, including the Duluth Budgeteer News, Western Weekly, Weekly Observer, Lake County News-Chronicle, and occasionally, the Cloquet Pine Journal. When not working, she’s an avid reader, crafter, dancer, trivia fanatic and cribbage player.