Freefall: Poured Paintings: Conversation with a Vanishing Sky

Saturday

©Robin Solit 2015, house paint on canvas, 16" x 20"

House Paint?? In Fine Art??

This is where the mysteries of physics & fluid dynamics come in, in a way they don't enter into painting with the usual acrylics or oils. Each color of paint has its own particular density. When a denser fluid rests on top of a less dense one, the top fluid wants to move downwards, causing the two fluids to intermingle. When multiple colors, each with differing densities, are poured on top of & near each other, there's a dance of densities. Wet latex house paint, because of its binding properties, does not mix with other colors on contact, as normal painter's acrylics do. Each color retains its own glorious spirit, yet swirls & infiltrates the space of other colors, free from restraint.

Picasso painted "The Red Armchair" & other works using house paint.

How Are These Paintings Made?

The floor itself is my initial canvas (covered with dropcloths). I pour the desired colors directly from the gallon paint cans onto the plastic dropcloth in a design based on which colors come forward and which recede.

This results in a riotous puddle of multi-colored paint a little larger than the canvas I plan to use. The colors swirl & kiss each other...flowing, rich, shiny.

I then take the canvas, turn it upside down, and press it into the paint, which oozes out the edges as I press down & smooth the canvas into the paint. After a few minutes, I lift it & turn it upright in a single, quick motion. This is rather hair-raising, as it must go from upside down to right side up & exactly level in order to avoid unwanted dripping or flowing. The result is the magic of giving paint its own will, its own way.

Freefall: Poured Paintings

Saturday

Conversation with a Vanishing Sky

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