This piece confounded me for a looooong time.  It seemed that whatever I did, it was determined to be uncooperative.  I was making mistakes right and left.  Has that ever happened to you?  I thought I would just have to scrap the whole thing…

One of the problems was the black background.  This was the first time I’ve ever used a black canvas, and it required a change in mindset as well as supplies- many of the original colors I used didn’t stand out very well.  You can see some of the splatters- vaguely.  I eventually found some purples that stood out much better, and being able to highlight those with some darker pinks and light reds finally enabled me to turn this piece around.  All these colors together really added to the way the whole piece pops.

Another part I had to change was the main core of the piece.  Originally, it was much smaller- the black background was the dominant feature, which was what I was envisioning to begin with.  However, as I tried to make my idea come to life, it just wasn’t working.  It looked terrible, even forgetting the wrong paint colors I was using.  Once I began to let go of the vision in my head, and allowed the piece to form on its’ own (as it was apparently determined to do), everything came together and it actually looks much closer to the splattered crater I was going for.  The picture doesn’t show it, but where my paper pieces are is a crater-like mound that comes off the canvas at least an inch and a half.  I added some wire to it to give it a more alien feel.