Solving My Problem With "The Drippy Sea"

"The Drippy Sea" (on display @ The Avery Gallery)
c. Princess Simpson Rashid,
Acrylic on Canvas,
60 x 48"
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In a previous post, I promised to discuss this painting, "The Drippy Sea". I wanted to share about its development since I've been working on it for about two years. That, in itself, is nothing new. A lot of my abstract paintings take a few years to finish. This is because most of my abstractions are about structure. When I speak about them, I usually talk about "energy"-conveying a sense of energy, but it is a sense of "structure" that I'm also after.


Anyway, the painting was originally inspired by a sketch I did while relaxing at Jacksonville Beach in Florida. I saw some wind surfers and tried to catch the spirit of the action.

Can you see the windsurfers?

The painting is a large format one being 60 x 48". And it started out completely realistic. Well, I got very frustrated because the painting was very static to me. I had trouble establishing the "energy" I was after. So I decided to try my drip technique on top of the surface. It was exactly what I needed to continue. I made a mixture of Carbon Black and Medium and dripped it onto the surface loosely outlining the background image.


Then I decided to go for full abstract and just leave a suggestion of the original landscape idea. After doing that, I left the painting alone for about two years and just stared at it off and on. I really liked the painting mostly as you see it in the image on the left. But there was something wrong about it to me....some small thing...but big enough for me to reject feeling the painting was complete.

Only recently did I realize what bothered me. It was the area of the lower left-hand corner. The second color I dripped on the surface was a mixture of yellow oxide and titanium white. That was just a little too strong .

The solution for me was quite simple. I just needed to drip more of the black on top of that area. Once I did that, the painting just came together. The black drip was the unifier I need to complete it in a satisfying way.

Leave a comment if you have any questions or thoughts about the painting or my process.