Wednesday 23 October 2013

33 Day Challenge: Abstract

Abstract: Thought of apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances.


Well, that left the prompt for today on the 33 Day Challenge extremely open for interpretation. I had lots of ideas after I looked up the definition for this prompt on the dictionary. I knew what abstract meant and was aware of the heap of art/music/scientific models that are considered as such but there's something about looking up the meaning of the word to leave no doubt on the mind. I ended up going with one of my first ideas which was to recreate the abstract painting Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock. Or at least use the colour scheme and splatter the polish on my nails. 


There are a few reasons why I chose to base my manicure on this painting. Blue Poles resides in the National Gallery of Australia and was bought in 1973 for about $1.3 million, which at the time caused outrage. 

'How could you pay that much money for something that is not even art?' 

Jackson POLLOCK, Blue poles
Source

I've been wanting to go to the NGA for a while but Canberra, the city where the gallery stands, doesn't have much else to offer me at the moment and there are other places I'm saving up to go to. I will go soon and look at this 2.12m x 4.89m beauty. I might even cry a little... from happiness of course. 


Another reason is the technique Jackson Pollock used to paint his canvas by laying them on the floor and dripping the paint with various instruments. This is said to reflect the realms of unconscious experience but also respond to contemporary life. I'm quoting him here, 'The modern painter cannot express this age, the airplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of the Renaissance or of any past culture'. To me that's a way of looking forward, a point of view that acknowledges the past but recognises the need to move on. I'm guessing saying that while everyone criticises your 'art' either takes a lot of confidence... or arrogance. I find it all so inspiring either way. That's why I would cry from happiness when I stand in front of it. *shakes off the emotion a little*



Back to the nails, the last reason why I wanted to have a little Blue Poles in my nails is that I have never done a splatter manicure before. I have tried but using a straw never gave me any splatter, it only gave me blobs of paint onto paper not my nails. I came across this Spanish-speaking Mexican beauty Youtuber, Yuya, that did a splatter manicure with a bobby pin and it seemed a little more controlled. *Edit* I originally couldn't find the video where she showed the splatter manicure but thanks to Brethil from Druid Nails, I have searched high and low and found it. Click here to watch the video. The splatter manicure starts at about 2:30 and Yuya recommends blowing into the bobby pin as if you wanted to blow bubbles *Edit*.


I gave it a go with this manicure and I'm happy with the way they came out. Mind you, the paper I had underneath my nails ended up with more polish than I did. 


Have I mentioned what polishes I used? Started with a two coats of Sally Hansen in White On and the splattered the coloured polishes in the following order:
  • Maybelline Color Show in Impeccable Greys
  • Maybelline Color Show in Fierce N Tangy
  • Ulta3 in Crazy
  • Essence in Absolutely Blue
I finished it off with one last splat of Impeccable Greys to have a closer representation of the painting. I had a mess all over my hands so I grabbed a cotton round and cleaned them up with pure acetone. I managed to clean up around my cuticles with the cotton round and I'm thinking this was easier than sticky taping all my fingers and then trying to remove it. 

I smudged my middle finger and tried to patch it up with extra grey splatter but it's jut making look messy.



I'm happy with this splatter mani and I hope I have made some justice to the painting. Please check out the other ladies' abstract manicures.









14 comments:

  1. Looks great, such a lovely idea to recreate that painting!

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    1. Thank you! I love art and I knew it would eventually find its way into my manis. I'm pretty happy with the first try too!

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  2. I really like them! The splatters seem finer than with a straw. Could you give the link to the video you used? She has so many videos, I don't speak spanish so filtering by video name is undoable for me. I'd like to see the video where she uses that different splattering technique anyway. Thanks!

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    1. I couldn't find it for a while but I finally hit the jackpot! Try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWgLXMf-f9E and the splatter manicure starts at about 2:30. I'm editing the post with the link as well, if for some reason the link above doesn't work. Thanks Brethil for getting me to look it up!!!

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    2. Thank you so much for looking up the video *hugs*... now I get why the splatters are much smaller, there's less room in the end side of the bobbypin to keep polish to blow out than it would have in a normal sized straw! And boy does Yuya talk fast! I don't understand a word (well except colour names like "blanco" and "negro"), but she is hyperactive *chuckles*.

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  3. Absolutely love these! Definitely going to have a go myself after seeing them :)

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  4. Thanks! Luckily, with this method you have to be messy, so there's no right or wrong!

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  5. Love it! I almost did this as well.

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    1. Thanks! I saw the inspiration you had on your post and I could say we had the same idea behind our manis.

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  6. Amazing! It looks like a simple mani but I always do it wrong:P Don't know why;)

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    1. Try the bobby pin method! It's almost foolproof!

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  7. This looks amazing! I love the look of the splatter technique :)

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    1. Thank you! I'm surprised I didn't do one sooner...

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