Jackson Pollock DIY

So I decided to make me a little Pollock. Artist, not fish.

What? Not every girl has 140,000,000 to go to Sotheby's, and I had an empty wall in my living room. So I went to the dollar store and bought 20 bucks worth of supplies: a 30 by 24 inch canvas on a wooden frame (the largest size they have in the Arts and Crafts department), six plastic bottles of all-purpose acrylic pant and a huge plastic drop cloth. Because I as planning to do it right there, in my living room.



Then I waited till my hubby went to work (I didn’t want to spook him with my plans), put the plastic over the floor, laid down a canvas Pollock-style and proceeded with artistic expression. Here is me on the photo, and below is Jackson Pollok – the similarity is frightening.





I started with darker colors: black and navy-blue, and finished up with royal blue, bottle green and just a dash of lime green. The colors were chosen to match my curtains. I believe in the practical purpose of art. Here is my masterpiece half-finished.



I stopped when I was out of blue paint. And when I got really tired. And the result pleased me enough. It took a day and a night for this piece to dry up, but the result was absolutely awesome. Crappy quality of my paint added some nice subtleties to the product: some paint was more liquid and poured easily, making nice even lines; and other was so clotted, I couldn’t mix it well and just slapping blobs of paint on the canvas. It added texture.



Tell me this doesn’t worth 140 million dollars!
Ok, maybe not. But it matches my curtains and creates a distinctive point of interest on my biggest white wall, so I am absolutely happy.

If you want to make your own little Pollock, here are some practical advices:

1) Although it looks like a fun family project, do not get little kids involved. There is such thing as too much fun.

2) Remember, that Jackson Pollock didn’t believe in accident, so have some kind of idea for your piece. Every stroke should be done on purpose. Try to stuck with ether vertical or/and horizontal line pattern, or do something circular. Don’t just throw pain on the canvas.

3) Do not dry your finished artwork outside – you don’t want anything get stuck to the wet paint, such as dust, insects and small squirrels. Don’t pick it up, flip or handle the canvas in any way before it’s completely dry.