I made three miniature canvas artworks on the same draft evening session the 4th April. This cyan liquid paint drip and palette knife working is the second piece, completed in literal minutes.

Artistically placing liquid mixed dripped paint then very carefully applying my favourite palette knife.

As with “Yellow Gold Rectangular Masterpiece” this artwork “Cyan Palette Nebulae” just happened to present beautifully upon the canvas to my exquisite delight.

I do not think there is a painting I ever made with so few palette knife motions. “I love this painting’s complex simplicity“

Then some days later whilst viewing this artwork on display I noticed an almost ‘alien-like woman’, herself appearing to view the extraordinary.

If this is difficult to fathom.. there is also a believable lion’s face in my “Cyan Palette Nebulae”. Definitely extraordinary for an artwork taking me not twenty minutes or thereabouts with completely random paint drips and quick palette work on the wet canvas.

The ‘lion’s mane‘ of the nebulae took the longest. Please appreciate I constructed this piece as a 100% abstract. I had no objects, faces or people in mind whatsoever. Not even nebulae! I only named this piece afterwards for how I believed it could reasonably be titled.

As a nebulae.

It was days after seeing the ‘alien-like woman’ I then incomprehensibly discovered the ‘lion’s face‘ with a robot-like eye.

Its left eye (as we view the piece), nose, jaw, mouth and mane now recognisable to a viewer.

The strangest thing about these now discernible phenomena is knowing I had not planned, envisaged or conceived of any such idea whilst painting! Honestly. True.

It is definitely unfathomable.

To give you an idea of my process. I dripped the thinnest, wettest paint first. A watery mixture from the same singular batch. The top liquidy layer from the petri dish-like glass container I mixed the paint in. As an artist making an abstract my focus was purely upon contrast. Lights, darks, interesting swirls for this piece.

I remember being very definite about this. Moving the palette until I was happy. I took perhaps no more than ten minutes for the first paint layer. Time goes Dali when painting, believe me. This is why I often stopwatch my sketches to be accurate with times for speed drawings over drafts.

Generally I do not time oils and acrylics. Although I have kept a look at my watch when starting acrylics very recently.

Anyway let’s explain the second heavier alla prima top layer where we now see the woman’s face and lion. It is here I literally made so few palette movements as to be near impossible in creating such masterful depictions.

How else am I supposed to write this?

If I tried to make these complex, beautiful depictions it would actually take me more time. The ‘woman’s eyes‘ were made in two palette motions entirely. At first I thought to myself ‘Gosh, that’s heavier than I intended’. Strangely though I decided not to rework those two palette lines [‘eyes‘] for a second time.

How glad I am about that!

Every element about the lion’s face is rather unexplainable.

“The nose of a lion, is the mouth of a woman“. An ancient riddle? The canvas 100% abstract in shapes to me whilst painting. For days afterwards too.

Contrasting, attractive. A nebulae.

Personally I feel this abstract piece is a pure chance masterpiece. I am pleased to write of the artwork in this way.

My very own ‘Mona Lisa‘ in abstract form.