I thought quite a bit about the role that chance plays in abstract painting. Surely some artists have mental image of what they would like to realize in paint. On the other hand, perhaps one paint stroke inspires the next, and so on.  As I mentioned yesterday, there are numerous accounts of artists gaining inspiration for their works from the patterns of clouds in the sky or vomit stains on a wall (from Giorgio Vasari’s 16th century work Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects).

My aim today was to create a background that would in turn, inspire a magical portrait or landscape. Something that I could not have imagined before hand.

I may have to pin this up in my studio and live with it a while. Nothing suggests itself to me at the moment, although I like the patterns as they are presently.

Abstract Background 101816
16″x12″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block