08.1: Jackson Pollock Inspired Works

Welcome! 

Last week, I promised some Pollock style paintings. Here they are!

Pollock Inspired

If you ask people to name an artist of the Abstract Expressionism movement, you will hear the name Jackson Pollock. Pollock’s revolutionary art style features action painting. Let me show you how I made mine. 

Pollock usually uses enamel, but acrylic can work too. I squeezed some acrylic paint into these small cups and then added water to it. Since it was my first time, I didn’t know how much water to add, but I knew the general viscosity I wanted. I need to be able to fling it. The colors I used were black, white, orange, and purple. However, the purple kind of turned black after it dried, which was unfortunate. 

Pollock used sticks to fling his paint, so I looked around my house for expendable sticks, and came to utilize unsharpened wooden pencils which were perfect. 

I brought a large piece of mixed media paper (Pollock would use canvas and sometimes linen) outside and lay it flat on the ground. Put some rocks on the corners to prevent the wind from blowing it, and then started to fling paint at it. That’s basically it. It comes very naturally! Make sure you fling from all sides, vary the strength, and play around for variance. I don’t know if I’m missing something because this wasn’t that difficult. I encourage you to try it!

Pollock Railroad Crossing

If you remember from my last blog, I was making sketches for a railroad crossing–to paint abstract from reality. Unlike the painting above, I will be trying to get specific shapes I am envisioning, instead of flinging for experiment. Now it was a test of how well I can control my action painting.

To save paint, I used the remaining paint from my previous work: Black, white, orange, and purple. I’m quite satisfied with the way it turned out (beyond my expectations!) although I’m sure there were many different ways to approach this exercise. 

These Pollock exercises have been a lot of fun, and now as my Senior Project is nearing an end, I want to explore how I can blend Abstract Expressionism and Chinese art together.

Some Early Attempts

I thought of making some quick ink landscapes and making use of flinging and splashing, like in the Pollock paintings. On the left, the restrained flicking of ink leaves the scenery more calm, while on the right the aggressive splashing creates a more energetic feeling. 

To be frank, when I finished these two paintings, I was greatly disappointed because I wanted a much different ‘vibe’ and to leave more space. This question of controlling my ink to leave more white space would be something I try to tackle in these last few weeks. 

One more example before this blog ends!

Joan Mitchell Inspired Ink Composition

Yes, I know the title only has Jackson Pollock in it, but let me quickly go over this work. I noticed many works from Abstract Expressionist and Abstract Chinese artists have a complementary piece or line separating their composition, so I wanted to try this. I took inspiration from this Joan Mitchell painting, but with only black ink–just to see how it will turn out. 

It turned out okay. Color would really make this a lot more interesting. Right now it just kind of looks like hair.

Next Blog Is From This Week As Well!

This is only the first half of my 8th weekly blog, so go check it out! I made some more interesting Chinese Abstract paintings. See you there.