"In Living Color"

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"Bring it on in living color." Color is always a good thing, but especially good on Monday mornings and holidays!

Horizontal bands are one of the best stabilizers in any composition. After working with moving color for many, many postings, I have come to some conclusions that might help you, especially if you are adding any kind of collage element to the piece.

If you have a very nice directional flow of color in your pour, it is best not to interrupt that flow by placing a collage element in any area that interrupts that flow, especially if it has a lot of interest.

The best way to calm down all of that moving color and bring good design and stability to the piece is to make use of horizontal bands...especially at the bottom of the piece. That will weight it visually at the bottom, which is always a good move.

However, it will have more power if the collage element is a strong grounding color...like black. Black is a fabulous counterpoint in a pouring medium piece as long as you don't let it overtake the piece. So you need to be very careful when doing the pour to keep the black occupying less space than the other colors. It is also a great idea to keep a bit of white pouring medium from the first layer showing, like you see at the bottom of this piece.

Another thing to consider is open line work such as the lettering and flourishing you see here be the horizontal band. It still allows the viewer to enjoy all of the nuances of color in the pour.

By stamping (with acrylic paint) on the blank 140 lb HP before the pour, you are also creating more depth and a bit of mystery. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.