So I recently watched a documentary on firefighters. Random, I know. Admittedly, I don't know much about them but I do love documentaries so I gave it a shot. It was quite fascinating seeing how they bring order to completely chaotic situations, all while saving lives. It's actually pretty inspiring. Why do I bring this up? Because I drew some inspiration from it of course.
Well first off the chaos - fire. It's all consuming, uncontrollable and resistant. Yet, they find a way to fight it. All with water, this element that can sometimes be uncontrollable. It's sort of a paradox - the uncontrollable (water) being controlled to control the uncontrollable (fire). So it brought me to this idea of freedom.
There can be freedom in a controlled environment. If firefighters can do it, use water freely to control a fire, why can't I?
So it was decided, I was going to make a mess! But in a controlled environment. I pulled out all the plastic coverings I could find! I covered the floor, furniture, my dog, everything (except the wall because I had to clean that after sigh). Then I got to work! I splattered paint one after the next. My hands were a mess and I loved it! It was so freeing.
But remember, controlled right? So I let the first layer dry overnight, now that was harder than I thought! The next day I said, why not go all the way with the firefighting theme and bring in some ladders? Well something resembling it at least. And being the too literal folk that I am, I drew some lines with the help of some masking tape and a ruler. Hence, the painting "Formation" was born - making something coherent out of the mess that I made.
How did I do?
See the result below along with a behind the scenes look at the process.
The Painting | "Formation"
My Process
Interested in reading more?