I’ve been doing a lot of abstract paintings over the last few years and its one of the things that I love doing, its relaxing and a great way to express my feelings without actually telling anyone anything about myself which is always nice. I really want to do more with my art, the only reason I haven’t before is because of my own insecurities and self doubts. Today I’m ignoring all of them though and I’m going to be talking about what one of my favourite paintings, Lava, is inspired by and a little about how I made it!
This is Lava! Its acrylic paint and a hell of a lot of papermache. I had this painting in my head for weeks before actually getting started on it. The inspiration struck while I was trying out some recreational and not illegal drugs for the first time. A few hours into the trip I began to watch a lava lamp that we had and I felt almost like I was in the lamp.
The bubbles were warm and relaxed, slow and heavy until they popped and rejoined with the rest of the liquid. It made me feel sleepy but very alive and I kept the feelings I had in mind for weeks as I tried to think about how I would portray it. I’m not the best at realism, I definitely wasn’t going to be able to paint a flat surface to look 3d, and I’ve always preferred the more sculptural aspects of art. I thought at first that I should use clay but dismissed that because of the weight the clay would add. So, papermache bubbles became a thing.
With the texture I wanted finally down, I began painting it and had a lot of fun adding shadows and highlights to the bubbles to reflect the way they had appeared to me while on my trip. I think the texture mixed with the large bubbles is really interesting and I’m really proud of the way that this piece looks.
So that was my thought process behind this piece and a bit of how I feel about it! I really want to do more posts like this for some of my other paintings so please do let me know if thats something you would be interested in!
-Dana
Carry on Beautiful! 