Atomic Butterfly

About the painting

Atomic Butterfly is very large abstract painting created with my infamous spin machine. I have written about its use many times before and with great enthusiasm. I have a deep fascination with the way centrifugal force acts against liquids and this monster of a canvas is a great example of what can be achieved.

The painting is made up of only five colours – blue, white, purple, mint and black. These are a great choice of colours and one I like to work with wherever I can. But it’s the way in which the paint has been applied and spun that really sets this apart from other spin paintings you’ll see on the internet.

Painting in the rain

To begin with, I had to make a much larger platform for this canvas. The regular size is only 120cm square so doing one like this required some polycarbonate roof sheets and a roll of duct tape. This temporary platform was attached to the regular ply top.

To make matters more complicated, I had a very short time window to paint as I was in the middle of a large commercial commission. So the day I had planned for this was set in stone. And it rained all day. It rained a lot! So yes, I painted this very big painting outside in the pouring rain. If you want to see that spectacle for yourself then check out the video below and you’ll see exactly how it was done.

Worth the effort

The result of this intense painting session is a truly spectacular painting. It’s bursting from the canvas from all points in an explosion of wonderful colour. Its large size means that it will be great in a large open space – particularly a double-height stairwell or entrance hall. It has impact and drama yet also feels grounded and very grown up.

It has a great texture to the surface thanks to the impact of the rain drops and the whole painting surface is peppered with a thousand tiny details. So not only does it have impact as soon as you see it but it also carries that on the closer in you get; meaning that there is always something new and revealing to look at.