Success with painting

Successes and failures are a constant aspect of painting. Some things work and some things just don’t ! What for me is the most frustrating feature is you can not always see why.  Its just when it works it works.

I have made several explorations into the abstract expressionist style of painting made famous by Jackson Pollack in a number of media and although I have always gained from each of these studies I have to admit that I have not always liked the results or found them pleasing.

A Successful painting #28 acrylic paint on paper
9 x 9 inches approx
Acrylic paint splattered, dripped and applied to paper

This piece however is a Success with painting in this style and I am very pleased with the result it just works from my point of view. Perhaps I have just gained enough experience and control of the media with the previous efforts that allowed me to relax and enjoy the moment of painting this piece.

Please leave your valued comments and let me know if you think this is a Success or not ?

exploring Jackson Pollack’s early abstract expressionism work

As with the previous piece (#21 link) I continued exploring Jackson Pollack’s  early work however I chose to add some colour this time, but I now think the blue is a tad to bright still.. This piece dose seam to work quite well despite that.
The Ink and acrylic paints were applied to paper with a wooden coffee stirrer as dips, splashes and marks in a seemingly random manor and allowed to run or flow.

 #22  Ink and acrylic paint on paper 9 x 9 inches approx

What is most suppressing is that to paint in this style of abstract expressionism requires a degree of restraint.  Designed or controlled application of paint is much harder to achieve than one would expect as it is not just a question of splashing or dripping paint to create an effect but rather making a subconscious decision about what you require and allowing the paint to work for you… As you can appreciate this is quite a departure from the traditional painting methods of controlling the Paint to create an effect.  I found this style of abstract expressionist painting very liberating if a little frightening.

Please feel free to leave your valued comment which are always appreciated thank you

No clear idea, Is that a good thing?

I started this piece without any clear idea of where I wanted to go with it and as a result I soon found that I did not like the direction that it seamed to be heading. I have to ask myself, Is it of any value to have a clearly defined idea before beginning or should I simply guide the process and see what happens, allowing a painting to come about of its own accord ?

Making decisions and trying a novel approach to things is in part what this whole art project is about.  In this case I tried the latter. So I splashed and splattered paint across the painting and added pencil to provide definition.  OK, Its nothing special but is it a complete mess or did I save it ! Let me know what do you think I would be very interested.

#5 Modern splattered painting 

9 x 9 inches approx Acrylic paint and pencil on paper