Experiments in Abstract Expressionism part 2

Painting 7

Painting 8

Record used to make 8

Painting 9

Painting 10

Painting 11

Painting 12

Pre painting 13

Pre painting 13

Painting 13

Painting 14

Painting 15

Painting 7

• orange/red/yellow

• A2

• white paper

• curved movements

• sharp

• palette knife only tool

In all my previous paintings, I had used a brush to apply the paint onto the page. However, for this piece I decided to use palette knives instead and see how that would change the work. The natural movements that came with the knives were not as circular as with the brushes, the movements appear sharper and rigid, no longer flowing. The texture of the mark the brush made also did not appear; instead the marks seem cleaner cut. The chaos and mess of this piece however, remains the same.

Painting 8

• A2

• white paper

• red/orange/yellow

• paint applied with record

• layers

• circular movements

This experiment I think is the most peculiar so far as I attempted to apply the paint with a record. I applied the paint directly to the paper to make it easier. As the record is rather large, it was hard to control the mixing of the different colours on the paper so the almost created one singular colour with small hints of the original colours. This earthy brown colour reminded me of some of my first experiments. As I suspected this would happen, I did not add any blue paint as in previous experiments, when I mixed it in with the other colours it did not create a pleasant painting. To make the painting seem less flat, I added more white on top of the colours and I feel this worked to an extent.

Painting 9

• A2

• white paper

• orange/red/yellow

• poured paint straight to page

• mixed/blended with a piece of wire

For my 9th test, I decided to keep with using unusual things to create marks in the paint; I chose to use a thin metal wire for this painting. I think out of all my paintings, this one looks the most chaotic. As the wire was rather thin, it gives the illusion of more detail in the mess. Also because of this, I again applied the paint straight onto the paper.

Painting 10

• used fingers only

• added dark colours last

• white paper

• A2

• red/orange/yellow/blue

• paint straight to paper

I chose to get more interactive with my painting and use my fingers to create the marks. I think I added too much paint initially, therefore the base colours mixed too much, creating almost one colour. Because of this I decided to add the darker colours last so you could see the impression my fingers were making in the paint. The streaks in the paint stick to a curved wrist movement, but at several different angles.

Painting 11

• used entire hand

• added dark colours last

• white paper

• A2

• red/orange/yellow/blue

• paint straight to paper

This next painting, I used my whole hand to influence the paint, again the colours mixed a little too much, however I really like the outcome of this one. Perhaps because there are less dark tones or that they are blended quite well with the other colours. I also like how you can see several hand prints in the lower swirl of the paper. By using my entire hand I got a better variation of marks than with painting 10.

Painting 12

• A2

• white paper

• fingers as tool

• kept marks horizontal

• paint straight to paper

For this experiment I kept the marks I made with my fingers horizontal. The marks curved slightly due to the movements of my wrist. Again, too much paint was added so the base colours blended too much however, because of this, the paint was able to carry arts of the dark paint for longer, creating ripple effects almost. The marks made remind me of music and sound waves.

Painting 13

• A2

• white paper

• fingers as tool

• kept marks vertical

• paint straight to paper

• took paint away with palette knife

The next painting I did was similar to experiment 12, except this time I changed the marks to vertical rather than horizontal. I accidentally added to many dark tones for my liking so I decided to scrape some of the paint away with a palette knife, the original colours underneath had already began to dry as acrylic dries quickly, so the original markings are showing where I took the top layer away.

Painting 14 and 15

• painted on record on top of paper

• A2

• white paper

• brushes only tool

• paint straight to paper/record

For this experiment, I managed to create no.14 and no.15 at the same time. I placed a record on top of the paper and painted over the top of it. Like painting 8 I involved a record in my work, but I was thinking about a different way I could put it into my work. I think this piece was a more traditional way of thinking, whereas painting 8 was a bit more unusual.