Acrylic Collage
To have an opportunity as a painter to make a submission to an exhibition with a theme of ‘painting’ stopped me in my tracks in the beginning. I’m sure that you, like me, realise that painting is a process, so how can you depict the actual process you are undertaking? It’s like trying to be on both sides of the camera. Just painting any subject matter seems to miss out on the challenge presented so doesn’t really do justice to it for me.
Perhaps painting examples of what I ‘use’ would be nearer the mark but that seems very insipid. I was seeking a different take on it somehow, but how? How about leaving bits of the process actually on the canvas. This will hopefully be seen as novel and maybe even inspired as I produce a 3D version to satisfy the theme. Off I went digging out used and old pieces of painting kit.
I was somewhat nervous not knowing how all this would come about, but knew it was the right direction to go in. As I moved from the foundation on the canvas and attached various items I became elated as I merged them with additional paint using brush and spatula to give the final effect. Hope you think it was worth it and it gives you as much pleasure as it did me.
Affinity
The black centre piece base was created by swirling a spatula through areas of black dropped onto the canvas. The rest of the shapes were smeared from the other colours with old credit card with the edge creating the lines. It appears I included some - how many can you see?
Altercation
The background to this one comes from applying the grey with a toilet roll before mixing moulding paste with the yellow and building up layers at the top with a spatula then mixing in Payne’s Grey to provide a contrast. A risky process but one that can yield exciting results. The two colours battle it out for dominance, hence the title.
Amalgamation
Decided to experiment on this one with blending inks with moulding paste to form the foundation of light blues and greys. The dark blue and black inks were then dropped onto that and spread at random with a narrow spatula. It is therefore named ‘Amalgamation’
Cacophony
With the rain unleashed outside I did likewise and put blobs of almost every colour I had onto a white canvas. This evolved into a 'Cacophony' of colour using one of my small square section garden canes that was rotated to and fro as I walked it up to the top of the canvas. I used it again to add the straights lines.
Celebration
This was the last painting to make it into my recent exhibition of June 2024 where I live in Wickerley, so I was somewhat relaxed as I used, of all things, a rigid cardboard corner protection unit from a recent delivery. Casual strokes of a somewhat cumbersome item followed with a final addition of gold highlights.
Confrontation
This all began on Good Friday 2024 with my mind in turmoil as I couldn't settle on any task to do. I was flitting from one thing to another but couldn't settle on what to do and getting more and more frustated.
I therefore stopped trying and turned to a canvas that had a mildly textured surface that I had created by soaking tissues onto it. Then, for some reason, I started to vigorously add seriously conflicting colours that I had never considered before with a spatula with the final lines coming from a credit card. I stood back from it and said to myself "How have I come to create this, it looks nothing like the colourful and vibrant pieces I was recognised for". A point that some friends quickly made clear to me.
As time went by my thoughts on it, above and beyond the initial 'Confrontation' in the title, changed to viewing it more from a symbolic nature as I couldn't escape the day on which it had been painted.
The yellow now became a symbol of hope in that things would be resolved.
The large area of green symbolised trees with the texture creating inter woven areas to suggest perhaps thorns.
The red trickling down suggested pain noting the paper towel texture was giving clear areas that could resemble veins and looking closer I could even see faces and bodies.
I may be reading too much into this but every time I gaze upon the painting the disturbing Good Friday story gets stronger from these symbols.
Am I the only one?
Connections
String to the fore on this one as various pieces were run through a variety of colours over their full length, namely burnt sienna; purple; pale olive; ultramarine; orange and pastel blue. Each piece of string is then laid on the canvas at a different angle and swept across the canvas making sure one end is fixed. A few soft highlights were then added with a hard sponge. As for the type of connections this created I will leave that up to you – perhaps soundwaves, neural or even networks?
Cornish Beach
The third of three normal acrylic pictures but from 2020 this time. It features a beach down in Cornwall that was simply from a picture a friend posted on Facebook. Again, back in the day, I only used brushes.
Flamboyant
Feeling quite upbeat when I approached the white canvas. Started by brushing burnt sienna over the whole canvas but then took a cloth and wiped it to create a smooth, uniform finish of a different colour. Added broken lines of ultramarine blue, white and burnt sienna across the middle of the canvas and then smeared them up and down with a huge rectangular spatula. Extra colours dropped on the canvas and distributed with either an old credit card or smaller spatula. Finishing marks come from a coarse comb.
Hashtag Primaries
A simple concept with the primary colours moved across a black canvas with a spatula before using the edge of it to add the white lines. Simple but effective.
Highlights
The white canvas has a suggestion of a texture by sticking sheets of paper towel on it before blending alizarine red and burnt umber for the background. Then, a trusty pair of toilet roll tubes are woven with string to allow some gentle gold impressions to feature as the dominant colour.
Intersections
Simply applying the two colours each with their own piece of string yields lines and shapes that I gradually move together to see how close I can get them to one another without losing their identity.
Interference
Who would have thought that random pieces of string could be used to make an image. Well, here's the proof as I launch 'Interference' whereby six lengths of string were coated with a nominated colour then moved around this Payne's Grey coloured canvas.
Leafy Glade
Four colours, namely green, white, grey and dark aquamarine, were smeared over the canvas with a wooden paddle. Further amounts of green were the added with a spatula with white following. The striations were then introduced with a hairbrush. The end result is a stable, calming and relaxing experience reported to be due to the use of green as the dominate colour. Some may call it a sanctuary, so feel to visit it if you wish.
Men in the Mist
Early days in my journey into Random Acrylics with the various colours spread over the canvas with brush and spatula as I experiment with the various techniques that make acrylics so special.
Northern Lights
One of the best sources in my early days back in 2018 were photos on magazines. There is always something magic about the lights so couldn’t resist trying out the contrasting light and dark areas. Back in those days paints were applied with a brush – the prospects of ‘randoms’ had not appeared on the horizon. My how things have changed!
Primordial
I love it when my idea gets kicked out from the very beginning. I intended to blend blobs of white and dark aquamarine but wanted to see how those soft mini DIY rollers would cope with it. So glad I did as a very variable blend occurred in the form of a swirl that draws you in - like at the start of time, hence the name.
Reminiscences
Time for some Reminiscences but you can choose which decade you think this reflects most. The sixties perhaps? A heavily textured black canvas with the vibrant colours painted on for once except the white highlights on the purple that required an old credit card.
Remnants
These pictures are created mainly from household items that might otherwise be thrown away, the same applies to the paint left on said items. A case of ‘waste not want not’ as I take the residues from two other paintings and work them across a white canvas with a spatula. The final act is to add yellow blocks using an old credit card to provide a distinctive lift.
Revitalised
Bit of a lull as regards painting this last month or so due to pesky health issues. However, one lot of medication sent energy levels soaring so took advantage by creating ‘Revitalised’. Used drops of colours across the canvas before smearing them around with a chop stick of all things. Lines applied using its edge.
Serence Saturation
Canvas edges taped off then loaded with profiling paste and then the pattern comes from a tile adhesive tool before it gets painted with the glorious dark aquamarine that I recently discovered.
Shining Through
Really excited about adding this to the Random Acrylics catalogue. ‘Shining Through’ features a scrunched up piece of aluminium foil pasted directly onto the canvas before colour added first with spatula then a brush. Finally a few swirls from a comb to give it a delicate texture.
Split Reflections
A purple canvas had a line of the colours placed down the middle. I then used a squeegee to draw them both out to the edges to create the idea of a reflection giving a very vibrant finish.
Tranquility
In a calm mood and wanting to major on green. Used an empty DIY resin roller of all things to smear the green across the canvas. Yellow was added with an old credit card before a small spatula was used to add highlights in Paynes Grey and white. Relax.
Trusting to Instinct
An 80 x 60 cm white canvas here where I did trust to instinct having not gone this large before. Background colours of pastel blue, cadmium yellow, burnt sienna and neutral grey painted on before scratching with a bone hard brush. Small circles of Payne’s grey from a roller covered in bubble wrap whilst large white ones are from the end of a toilet roll tube. Purple smeared on with side of the toiler roll with vigorous combing from a large comb. The occasional red blocks simply painted through a template and the Payne’s grey lines from a spatula.
Upcycled Honeycomb
This was a no brainer when I unwrapped a parcel and found the usual bubble wrap replaced by brown paper honeycomb rolls. The canvas was painted purple, and a section pasted onto the canvas before applying burnt umber with a mini roller then the white highlights with spatula and the bright yellow with a totally worn out (stiff as a board) brush.
Variation on a Background
Why use one when you can have four. Introducing 'Variation on a Background'. Pieces of ribbed cardboard, aluminium foil, paper towel and bubble wrap glued onto the canvas before yellow; alizarin red and Payne’s grey were smeared across them with an empty and smooth adhesive tube. After drying, a fan bush was whisked across areas where the canvas was still showing white and the four areas blended into one.