"Moving Color"

(sold)


"Life is like moving color...blending and moving with many surprises." Even the best laid plans can be interrupted with unexpected events. It reminds me of liquid color moving on a very wet sheet of watercolor paper. You can only control its direction somewhat, but never completely.

Control of a particular technique, even the spontaneous ones, requires patience, skill, and practice. One of the big advantages I give myself when creating a piece with pouring medium is to work on a larger sheet. If the paper is adhered to the support first, all cropping options are off of the table. I have heard the complaint that if the paper is expensive, (like 300lb. HP), it is very tempting to take advantage of every square inch. But I cannot emphasize enough that where the image is cropped is a hugh part of the design process. My rule of thumb is to work on paper at least 2 or 3x larger than my intended size. Buying more paper and being somewhat "wasteful" is the price that must be paid in order to achieve the maximum result.

Another control factor is the wetness of the pouring medium and the ratio of paint to medium. It you don't want very much movement, then cut down on the amount of medium used. If you want a lot of movement, add more medium. And if you want very diffused lines and a thinner, less dense application, then add water to the medium and paint before pouring. So these are some of the techniques that must be practiced over and over until you can achieve the results you want. Even so, it is much like life and full of surprises. That's why I write the quote based on the image, especially with this technique. Just a few more things to think about.