Paint pours and ponderings
Today’s post starts off with the mystery of the disappearing gallery. I mentioned that a local gallery has closed pending its relocation. Now another has gone - supposedly closed for renovation, and when I saw workmen in there I thought it was getting ready to re-open. Well it did. But it’s now a beauty parlour - are they called that these days? What happened? Some detecting is required.
You may notice that this post is actually going up on Wednesday morning. I've done a few Thursday ones recently but noticed that the analytics indicates anonymous visitors right here on Wednesdays...and no new post. Not good. So Wednesdays it has to be. Bit of discipline is needed to get it ready, that's all. And it's polite to be on time. And hello and thank you for reading!
Meanwhile, as I finish off one of my now-not-for-the-art-fair pieces, I tried doing an acrylic pour at the weekend. It’s where you dilute acrylic paint with a medium which makes paint more fluid and add things like rubbing alcohol or silicone oil. When you pour the paints over your canvas the colours combine and creates waves and swirls, and the additives create wonderful ‘cells’ which are sort of like soap bubbles with colours locked inside them. Oooo.
Anyhow, I scoured local shops for additives but couldn’t find any so had to go to the rain forest place and get me some. But I had a go anyway with just straight up paint. Made some mistakes with consistency and somehow the base layer went…I dunno. Where the heck did it get too? It looked lovely and thick after the pour but now the canvas shows through.
But oh, it was so satisfying tipping pure white house paint (cheaper than artist acrylics; I got silk emulsion for a bit of sheen) over all the canvas and watching it creep lazily to the edges, then pouring the colours out of little cups to make bright splashes and dragging a piece of board over it all...and watching what happened.
Eddies, swirls and fingers of paint spreading out like an image of a river delta. No cells, but with a bit of poking with a cocktail stick and puffing down a straw, got the colours to mingle and move around a bit. And got really sticky mitts having decided I didn’t need gloves to stay clean. Hah! Next time – gloves. And a messy face, cos I had a cold. Yes, I grabbed a tissue to blow my nose and didn’t realise it had paint on it.
But all that paint that drips off the canvas you ask? It’s saved on plastic file covers spread beneath, because acrylic doesn’t stick to them, so when it dries you peel it off and use the skins to make new paintings. So. Much. Fun.
Someone did a YouTube video to test if you could do this with Poundland/Dollar Store paints and ‘tools’ and it works just as well. You should try this. Really, it is so intriguing to watch what happens.
But, not quite as easy to make stunning pieces as the experts do. Mine is…ok. I like the colours and patterns but it wasn’t what I had in mind. The thing with pours is that there’s probably no such thing as achieving what you had in mind. The paint does what it wants. For those of us who have a history of wanting to be in complete control of their art, this will stop you in your tracks and maybe you learn to love being surprised.
I’m planning some other painting things – to do bps subjects in 2D because after reading Maria Brophy’s Art, Money, Success book for the second time, I can see far more opportunities to get ‘flat’ art shown when you get creative about finding venues and besides, it’s good to have that flexibility in what I can show.
The form of painting is kind of in my mind’s eye. I learned to draw using photo references and want to get away from the pernickety part of my brain that wants to get things just right. Also, creativity is about what comes from your own mind rather than just copying what’s in front of you. And there are artists who are dazzlingly brilliant at photo realistic art and if you start comparing yourself with them...oh nooo. Do not go down that road.
As it happens, figuring out what is in my mind has proved quite a challenge. Heads up again to Andy J Pizza for his creative pep talk podcasts, for really making ‘creatives’ think long and hard about what is the core of what they do and why they do it. I thought I just did stuff cos I liked it. What else is there? Actually quite a lot, because this is how you define your own unique style. But that’s another post when I’ve got it more figured out.
