2 Exercise 2 Dripping, dribbling and spattering

Jackson Pollock, as far as I can ascertain, used enamel gloss paints. These were synthetic resin based paints and new in the U.S. at the time and I think were a factor in why his methods developed as they did. He experimented with the viscosity of the paint and diluted it to differant viscosities to suit the result he wanted. Mostly he diluted them to low viscosity (quite runny) to achieve his signature 'drip' effects.
He applied his 'drip' methods famously using a can or cans of paint with a hole in the bottom attached to a piece of string.

Initially I played around with watery paint on a sketchbook page A4 (above). Paint - watery blue-green on decorator's brush applied loosely, virtually dripped on. Purple-red in spaces in between applied same way and allowed to overlap  blue-green in places - dark margin appeared -  I like the contrast set up by the darker red values and the splattered dark red on same brush against the mid tone blues . It reminds me of woodland or abstracted figures but wasn't conscious of producing anything recognisable. The colours contrast, while not to extremes as are mostly of the same value   - (not quite opposite one another on the colour wheel), they are subdued and I think they work well together.

1. A2 white cartridge paper.
Red and yellow were splattered from large brushes - had to water down the paint sufficiently to get this to work - thick blobs with long streaks emanated. Blue was flicked through fingers - result large and small spots, without streaks. Yellow then poured on from a jar. It mixed appealingly with the paint under, which was wet. Would have been a better idea to have first let it dry.
Some colours intermingle when applied wet on wet. This happened with a watery blue splattered onto yellow and red, resulting in a dull murky brown green. However, being a transparent colour aswell (ultramarine) didn't help. It was also partly to do with the consistency of the paint. At this point I was in two minds about whether to abandon this painting, but I carried on just to see what would happen and was glad I did.  I used another more viscous and opaque blue mixed with acrylic matte medium mixture not containing ultramarine. Although quite runny it held together much better.As I added further layers of colour, some on wet paint, others on dry paint it began to take on a pleasing richness and depth that I hadn't expected. Eventually, after I had added white poured through a 5cm hole in the corner of a freezer bag, the white blobs over the thinner paints below completed the picture nicely, as it were, and I reckoned  it was time to stop. I'm just sorry I didn't use better quality paper.

No. 1

2. A1 black gessoed thick cartridge paper.
Splattered from large brushes and dribbled from containers various reds and blues wet on wet.
It was fascinating to see the way the  blue paint, of different viscosities, intermingled with the  red paint below.
Further mixes of magenta and ultramarine and white  flicked on with side of 5cm brush created lines of spots, flicked from close quarters also developed long thin streaks.
White dripped and flicked a little,  from end of brush mingled interestingly with the more transparent wet purple mix below. The purple crept into some edges developing fascinating delicate veins.

No. 2 with avocado showing scale 

detail on No. 2

3. Surface: dull pink (red/black mix acrylic) painted background of A1 thick cartridge paper.
U'mne/cad yell (green) dripped, spattered. Tried to suggest vague figure of eight - as Pollock sometimes did. After a few minutes some of the yellow part of the mix separated resulting in interesting combination of green and yellow. Attempting a semi-control by placing brush into container while pouring white - became blobs which splattered when touched the paper, merging with previously yellow/blue mix. Two consistencies of white paint were used. Added several more colours - blue, red, yellow. Syringe used to dribble paint, attempting to create continuous thin lines similar to Pollock, but the syringe was too small to cover an A1 sized surface, so I had to work quickly, causing a broken line  of dark red. Tried same process with a green and took out the syringe plunger too early causing large blob, so did the same thing elsewhere so as to balance it out. The more layers and depth that I built up the more their appearance improved. The green didn't look too appealing lying around in large watery puddles, mixing with some of the red, so I dabbed it a little with a rag and voila! it was a success. I couldn't resist adding further white flicked on at close range with fingers. In general I was slightly disappointed at not getting a few longer thin streaks or lines in amongst the marks made.

No. 3 with avocado showing scale

On all three paintings: flicking paint energetically at very close range seemed to work well. I found the immediacy and freedom of this way of painting very liberating and enjoyable and I was very pleased and surprised with the results obtained.



A novel way to use action painting:
Lee Krasner abstract florals:
http://www.patternpeople.com/pattern-pairs-erdem-x-lee-krasner/

This kind of technique could be used to build up interesting surface textures for backgrounds inside or around objects, even over objects. It may need to be masked off if only required in certain areas of a painting.
For making collage papers.
Henri Lamy is a French who artist drops liquid acrylic paint onto the canvas from a knife or throws paint directly at it, combining with his figurative portraits. The facial features appear to be built up with unblended impasto beforehand.
http://figurativeartists.blogspot.ie/2012/11/henri-lamy-figurative-drip-paintings.html
Dave White uses watercolour in a similar way for his animal paintings, culminating in paintings full of vitality, developed out of a most fascinating range of mark making.
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/dripping-and-splattering-watercolor-paintings
John Worthington drips, sometimes pours and splatters liquid paint over an underlying  framework of shapes forming a realistic landscape.  This process has the effect of  transforming them into something quite poetic, evoking the natural elements. His series 'Low Tide', he says, is layer upon layer poured, wiped away and abraded paint. The pools of liquid paint are often left to dry overnight on the floor. Depending on how they look once dry he decides if they have been successful or not. At least, with practice the happy accidents become more frequent.
 A strong sense of energy and movement is emitted in the series 'Low Tide', by his use of paint pours, drips and splatters over the often strong underlying colours. A great variety of  textures are created by both opaque and watery transparencies. These combine well with calmer flatter areas. I think the stronger base colours and occasional pours in the top layers, help to give a great sense of depth and contrast.
http://johnworthingtonstudio.com/

No. 3 detail

William Baziotes, Gerome Kamrowski and Jackson Pollock did a collaborative painting, 1940-41,  which appears to demonstrate great control over the process of 'action' painting. The calm areas could have been masked off to isolate them from the 'action' painting or painted around afterwards to make defined borders. My guess is it was produced from a combination of these methods and more.
http://www.weinstein.com/artists/gerome-kamrowski/

Advantages (and disadvantages) over more conventional methods of painting:
Could have several paintings on the go at any one time, space permitting - limited by the amount of floor space and protective covering available.
The pre-mixed colours in containers are easy to isolate from one another. Mixing of tonal variations not as important.
If things didn't seem to be working out I found that adding further layersgenerally resolved the situation.
Disadvantage - hard to control the results, I found I just had to go with the flow. However, with plenty further experience I'm sure more control would come about.
Messy process, but this to me is part of the fun - until it's time to clean up that is!