| Painting with a TOOTHBRUSH |
I came by the technique of spatter painting when a friend suggested I try it. At the time there were a lot of "cheap" plastic paints around. My introduction to acrylics was therefore less than favourable. Being already involved in the advertising industry, I was fascinated by colour separations and how just the four colours - magenta, cyan, yellow and black - produced rich full colour brochures.
So I bought myself some printing-style inks and spattered an image of trees in a landscape. I was pleased with the colours and the way they mixed, but not with the lack of control with the spattering. A couple of years later, struggling to find a painting style that suited the use of the four primary coloured inks, I persevered by using bits of wood, pressed plants and small amounts of plasticine.
These I sat on the paper to make a pleasing design. Next I poured my precious inks into a savoury tray bought especially for the purpose. Firstly dipping the very outermost edge of a toothbrush into the black ink, I then proceeded to flick the bristles with my right index finger. This way I was able to control the intensity of 'colour' on the surface of the paper. I was also able to achieve great tonal variations with the black ink.
By adding extra colours to the already defined motifs, I discovered new colours and a wonderfully rewarding method of making images. Then I was able to remove sections of the design bit by bit, and spray different colours over the exposed white paper.
Painting with a toothbrush became my personal technique!