A while ago I came across a video about Mel McCuddin and was fascinated by his work and his methods. I was inspired and tried his approach a few times, but I didn’t get it to work for me. Which was quite disappointing and a bit frustrating.

A little over two weeks ago I was inspired again, however! This time by this thread by John McNelley/jmax, and the tips John gave me there were the last push I needed to try this way of painting again.

I’ve tweaked the method a bit to suit my needs/preferences, and now I’m hooked. This is what I’ve been looking for, for quite a while. I was getting more and more tired of my calculated, controled way of painting and wanted more expression, weirdness and freedom. And I think I may have found it:

(I have a hard time getting the darkness/lightness of the photograph correctly, so it may appear too dark or light on your screen…)

I love painting this way! There’s been a sloppy painter inside of me, dying to get out and now it has replaced my inner perfectionist. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed working on a painting this much. It’s intriguing to see how much stuff the human brain can find in chaos – I started this painting with quite a mess – and how much it’s wired to find people, faces, emotions, animals and/or stories.

Don’t know if it’s completely done yet, but I heeded John’s advice “[…] stop halfway. Don’t finish them off”, so I’ll probably leave it like this…

I was a bit worried that – using this method – my work would end up looking too much like Mel McCuddin’s of John’s, but I think this way of painting brings out your own character or natural style enough to make distinct works. What do you think?

Also, I could use a little help with a title. I like titles that bring up at least as much questions as it provides answers.

Your feedback and ideas are much appreciated. And thanks very much for your inspiration, John!