There are two groups of Abstract Expressionism:

Action Painting, which was demonstrated by artists such as Pollock, de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Philip Guston, was about the action involved in the painting. How the paint was applied to the surface was more important than the result.

Color Field Painting, which was practiced by Mark Rothko and Kenneth Noland, was primarily concerned with the effect of pure color on canvas. A canvas of pure blue, or red, might be an example of this.

Jackson Pollock was an impatient individual who liked the most direct route to a goal. Anything other than that was a waste of time. This attribute may be a result of him having been severely injured at birth. Pollock was born strangled by his own umbilical cord, an event that left him with alcoholic tendencies, mild learning and motor disabilities. Pollock had a range of emotional difficulties as well. He had problems with authority. For example, he slugged one instructor in grade school, and slugged another one in high school. He was thrown out of school twice. At the age of 18, he dropped out of high school and moved to New York, where he struggled for more than a decade to make it as an artist. People who knew him in the early 1930s, flat out said he could not draw. You see from his early paintings and drawings that there's something of a struggle in his work; showing that nothing came easily for him.

In 1929, he began to study painting at the Art Students' League in New York, under the instructor, Thomas Hart Benton. Pollock was influenced by the Mexican muralist painters (Orozco, Siqueiros, and particularly Rivera), Picasso, and also by certain aspects of Surrealism.

His unhappy personal life may have lead to some of his artistic inspirations. He was a heavy drinker, a mean drunk, and often in many bar fights. In 1942, he met painter Lee Krasner, whom he married three years later. His wife moved them away from the bars and distractions of the big city to Hampton, Long Island. Given a new chance and fewer distractions with a new location, he started experimenting with new styles that he ultimately became famous for. Pollock abandoned traditional painting techniques ( for example, he laid his canvases on the floor), and even traditional paint—he often used common enamel house paint, which he'd pour out or dribble through a small hole in the can, or fling with a stick. Objects such as nails, sand, broken glass, coins, even a cigarette butt, made their way into the surface of the painting. This manner of Action painting had much in common with Surrealist theories of automatism (your brain on autopilot will pick up your moods). It was this work that caught the eye of the hottest art dealer of the day, Peggy Guggenheim. She signed Pollock to a contract for a show in 1943, and commissioned a huge mural, his first large-scale work.

Lavender Mist, one of Pollock's most famous paintings, is nearly 10 feet long. It's almost as if a dog got its tail dipped in paint and ferociously wagged it over a canvas, while playing with a small child possessing a purple crayon.

Pollock has put his hands into paint and placed them at the top right—a gesture that mimics cavemen, who did the same. The overall tone is a pale lavender, airy, and active. At the time, Pollock was pronounced as the greatest American painter, but there were already those who felt his work was not holding up in every respect. People would question his artistic ability, often saying, "anyone can do that!"

Materials Needed:

See ideas in step 1

Posterboard

Criteria You'll Be Graded On:

1. Use seven different techniques to get color/texture onto your surface.

2. Cover at least 99% of the surface with some sort of technique.

3. Interesting to look at.

Step 1: Gather materials. Whatever you think can make an interesting mark. NO paintbrushes allowed though :) To the right I have the following: fork, salt shaker, string, toothbrush, straw, pretzel, marshmallow, ink, and three colors of paint.

Other ideas might be: sand, noodles, rice, spray paint, ribbon, sponges, potatoes, fruit, styrofoam, confetti, etc. The sky is the limit.

Step 2: Play with some different techniques before you officially start.

Step 3: Start with a dark color (such as black, blue, or purple) for the base of the painting.

Ideas for techniques: You do not have to use this technique or any of the ones I will show examples of. But REMEMBER, you do need to use at least seven different techniques.

Straw/Ink Splats: A straw and paint/ink will be needed for this. Drop a few drops of paint/ink onto your surface. Using your straw, blow the pigment different dirrections until you get an interesting design. Some will look like spiderwebs while others might look like squashed bugs. You can layer over these with different colors for great effects!

Food Prints:

Using a jumbo marshmallow and a pretzel, I made the design to the right. I learned that the pretzel did not work as I originally planned. (So, the lesson learned was to experiment on a scratch piece of paper first).

Toothbrush Splatterpainting:

I dipped my toothbrush (not the one I plan to use tonight) into water, then paint. Using my thumb, I brushed backwards along the bristles until I got the desired effect. I also "painted" a bit with the remains.

Quarter Rolls:

Roll your coin in paint, until you get the whole outside edge covered. Roll it onto paper or onto a painted surface.

Fork Art:

I dragged a kitchen fork through paint spatters to get this effect. You can add paint as well as subtract it with a fork.

Smudging:

I took a napkin and mushed together the paint while it was still wet. I dragged it through certain sections to give a little direction to the painting as well.

Here's what my creation looked like from start to finish. I dripped, salted, stringed, splattered, squashed, and scraped my way through.