Just submitted this painting to a juried show. Wish me luck!

Thank you so much!

Lol thank you!

Wow thank you so much! It's one of my personal favorites and has become pretty emblematic of my art style (with acrylic anyway). It's still for me to use paper as a base layer but I really love the effect.

Very much about light. But interesting thought about Turner... I hadn't thought about that before. I usually think of contemporary abstract artists first when I think of my influences but Turner's work is so amazing and the only thing I ever do that is remotely representational is landscapes so that actually tracks.

You've given me some great food for thought! Definitely want to revisit some of his stuff and see if it sparks any new ideas! :)

Ehhhh, that's kinda the problem. This kind of thing can be done with incredible skill and attention to detail, but it can also be done without any intent at all. It's nigh impossible to tell the difference.

When it comes to things this random seeming, the best you can really say is whether or not it works as it is. If you need to know whether or not it's intentional for it to work, chances are that it just doesn't work, or doesn't work for part of the audience.

That being said, this seems to have control, it isn't just splatters thrown down chaotically (which can be just as valid as anything else, but tends to not). At the very least, there's some color choice and general pattern management going on. There's no muddiness, there's balance and movement. That points to the creator going in with a plan.

Now, there's always the argument that that isn't skill, that there's no substantive techniques involved, and thus it falls into the realm of "elephant art", or spirographs. That's something that can't ever be resolved because it's such a subjective opinion. I would argue that doing this kind of painting where the results are consistently aesthetically pleasing is skill. But you can't judge consistency with a single work.

I would also argue that this kind of painting is harder than it looks. Again, it could be done in masses with random applications, and only the successful pieces would be shown. But if one tries to make a color wash for the purpose of both aesthetics and the affect on the viewer, it's a hell of a lot more than smearing and hoping for the best.

There's footage of Pollack working that shows exactly how much intent can be applied to what seems like smears and drips. I'm not saying this artist is at that level, I'm just using it as an example of how there can be a lot of skill applied to the seeming random.

I've actually tried this kind of thing, back in college. I never succeeded, imo. The best I could achieve is what I think of as office background art, where it's bland and inoffensive to the eye but can be matched to the decorator's whim.

Think of it like music. A song is just notes and lyrics. A song can be created by a beginner or a life long musician, and they have almost equal opportunity to create a hit. But that doesn't mean everyone likes it. People experience it differently. And some people like shitty music.