Eruptus

About the painting

Exhale is a small sized abstract painting that was created with orange, black, gold and copper paints. I used an unusual technique for this one in, opting to pre-stretch the canvas before painting (not something I ever do I might add). I then mixed four of the colours into a small pot with four chambers in it and applied all four at once to the canvas.

I did the same a further three times, alternating the copper and black, until I had the effect I wanted to achieve. Covering the canvas was done by tilting the whole thing and moving it one way then the other until I got some cool effects.

I don’t often to the whole paint pour and tilt thing as it requires a surprisingly large amount of preparation time and can be, for me anyway, quite problematic to get a decent consistency across a large canvas.

Most techniques you see like this are done on tiny shop-bought canvases. Most people don’t attempt larger ones and I shall explain why.

The dreaded sagging point

The problem with larger canvases is that they have a naturally weak spot in the centre. This is down to how tension sis spread across a flat surface when it’s anchored at each side. Physics dictates that a liquid like paint will always move to the path of least resistance – the middle. So the bigger you go the more chance you have of developing a large bulbous excess of paint in the centre.

This is the main reason I always paint flat because I never ever get that issue. I always stretch around the frame after it’s dry. However, I like a challenge so every now and again I do a paint pour on a pre-stretched canvas. This one has turned our rather well!

A big eruption!

Anyway, once the challenges are overcome you can get on with enjoying the painting. And this one is a fiery leap into the top of volcano as we get waves and waves of magma followed by the mesmerizing rock flows as it cools. The orange paint is dense and silky whilst the copper and gold add the razzmatazz. It’s earth and elemental whilst at the same time being powerful and engaging.

It may not have swathes of rainbow colours but that is compensated for with the intensity of thew movements and textures.