a knife painting no longer ~or ~ let's go see the train wreck

What began as an exciting adventure into knife painting didn't end up anywhere near what i had pictured in my mind. And truth be-told, i liked it better in the beginning 2 stages that were abstract & bold than what it is now. I have wondered if my failure is because the only knife i had was a butter knife, the cheap acrylic paint, or just plain awful technique! Probably more of the the technique than anything else.

phase two

phase two - i didn't like the sky it was too textured & choppy. i envisioned smoother & softer knife strokes


phase three

 phase three - here i added other colors from my liquid acrylic decorating paints still using a knife in spots but also using my fingers.

phase four

phase four - by this point i was using the brush entirely. i don't know yet how i feel about it as this painting is so far away from what i originally pictured in my mind.

Last night i watched a video via Jerry's Artarama by David Dunlop, How to Experiment with Two Minute Paintings in WaterColor, and he was saying to let the paint help create & direct your painting, not to be so fixed to a plan. Of course that is watercolor which is so wonderfully fluid & creative in it's own right. But it goes to what i think is the heart of art... there should be life to it, expression, emotion.

I am at a point where it's time to buy new paint.. the cheap stuff i have is almost gone & i don't like the idea of spending good money on quality paints,  knives & brushes for acrylic painting. Playing around with acrylics these past couple of weeks has made me realize that it is not my medium, i love the joyful fluidity of watercolors & the way soft pastels lend it self so easily to an impressionist style. So this is most likely the last of my acrylic painting.