I am an artist experimenting with various mediums and chemicals in pursuit of the never-before-discovered object of art. Alchemy is a conjoined effort!
In 2015, I began experimenting with various materials intended to create texture in the reflective surface of plate glass mirrors! A thin layer of petroleum distillate was applied onto a mirror's reflective surface, followed by a specific type of acrylic paint applied over the petroleum distillate; I discovered the paint would reticulate/transmogrify, producing organic life-like formations and, when dry, maintain its distinctive organic form. This idea continued to develop; I began to apply the technique to gesso-primed surfaces on board or canvas. The primed surfaces would produce similar results as when applied to the reflective coating of plate glass, although the shapes and patterns created were more life-like and defined when applied to the gessoed surface! The paint application was dipping the brush in the paint and flicking the loaded brush onto the floating layer of petroleum distillate. There is a degree of control over the amount of paint and the direction it is applied, although I do not assist the paint in finding its form by brushing or any other manipulation! Attached are images in this article, where subjective reason and a degree of pareidolia sight will be at play! Petroleum molecules and atoms from the Mesozoic eras interacted with water-born molecules and atoms in acrylic paint, further influenced by various chemicals in the paint. The atoms of both materials may combine to form molecules in a quantum dynamic where movement and shapes coordinate the approximation of an organic living form through covalent bonding. Hypothetically, these molecules and atoms are joined through chemical bonds, further defined by sharing electrons between atoms and ionic and covalent bonding. By sharing electrons between atoms, chemical bonds are classified into different types of electrons between atoms, such as ionic, covalent, metallic, and coordination bonds. The distinctive organic paint forms may also result from the interaction between non-polar and polar molecules/atoms, where oil is non-polar, and water is polar. As mentioned, I am an artist/alchemist, not a biochemist or physicist, and I can only document these observations without conclusive scientific explanation or reason. I have not, as of now, discovered a definitive answer for these unusual forms rendered from splashed paint onto the surface of a petroleum distillate. A definitive explanation would require a controlled lab environment where biochemists' would apply the scientific method to the task. However, my research is ongoing, and I hope to offer a definitive scientific explanation for these chemical reactions and phenomena at some point in time. A broader historical, spiritual reference to the " Mana" tag, for this new style or perhaps new genre of painting, might lend itself to American Indian folklore, where the American Indian was polytheistic and saw God, the divine spirit in all living things where supernatural forces will always be supported by nature!