Jackson Pollock experimented with house paint for his paintings.
One of the best known American artists who dripped and splattered paint was the abstract expressionist painter, Jackson Pollock, who lived from 1912 to 1956. According to The Andy Warhol Museum, Pollock witnessed Indian Sand Painting at New York's Museum of Natural History in 1941, which influenced his pouring and dripping of paint. Make your paint run and drip on a canvas by placing the canvas on the floor like Pollock. Be sure to use acrylic paint with a creamy consistency. Like Pollock, let your subconscious mind guide your painting to create the runs and drips.
Instructions
1. Place a drop cloth or sheet on the floor of where you plan on painting. This protects your floor. Place the prepared canvas, which is ready to use, in the center of your drop cloth.
2. Pour white, black, gray, yellow and red fluid acrylic paint into individual plastic cups. This type of acrylic paint is a creamy consistency which is ideal for this project. If you only have regular tube acrylic paint, add water or acrylic medium to thin it out.
3. Pour a small amount of white paint into the center of your canvas on the floor. Lift one corner of the canvas to make the paint run. Lift up another corner to run the paint in another direction. Dip your 2-inch stiff brush into the white paint. Hovering it over the painting, flick the brush towards the canvas to create random drips and splatters.
4. Dip the brush into the black paint. Be sure to saturate the brush well. Remove the brush from the cup over the painting to add larger drips. Tap the brush to add smaller splatters wherever you want them. Wipe the brush with a rag to clean off.
5. Pour gray paint in a corner of your painting. Lift up that same corner to make the paint run down. Pour gray paint in another area and lift it up to make the paint run some more. Pour small drips onto the painting from the cup.
6. Dip the paintbrush into the yellow acrylic paint. Flick it all over the painting. Wipe the brush with the rag. Dip the paintbrush into the red paint. Tap the brush lightly in a few areas on the canvas. Allow the canvas to completely dry before lifting it up to hang it.
