Whispering Grass

The what and the how

Whispering Grass is a medium sized original piece of modern art created with a combination of red and turquoise paints with accents of orange, purple and blue. It’s quite a departure for me in terms of how it was created and in fact, I have only ever managed to get three of these paintings to work using a very unusual method.

The whole basis for the painting is to capture falling paint. That may seem like a very easy thing to do but the reality is very different. That’s mainly due to the fac that the falling paint comes from a giant rotating barrel. it’s the same barrel machine I have used in a few of my live streams to create some incredible paintings (Rainbow’s End and Seagrass Meadows) but I have always been intrigued by what comes off the canvas as the barrel spins as much as what is left on the barrel when I am done.

To that end I have experimented with that very principle to learn more about falling paint.

Pushing boundaries

When you exist on that ragged edge between success and failure you open yourself up to some truly wonderful highs and lows. I am a firm believer in self-discovery. I have no idea where my limits are until I test the boundaries. That’s true of my ideas, my principles, my actions and most definitely my materials.

When you get all these factors to sync together that’s the point where progress happens. That very tip of your limits where you enter uncharted territory. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s all part of the learning experience.

And so it is with this painting. That process of trying and failing many times has given me three successes (this and two others). Managing the height of the barrel above the canvas is one of the biggest challenges followed by its rotational speed. Then you need to add in the volume of paint, in what order, how long to pour, where to place and whole host of other factors. There is a lot to go wrong.

But there’s a lot that can go right too. And that’s Whispering Grass.