Oil paint was my medium of choice during my first semester of painting. However, since it took forever to dry, I was encouraged to start using acrylic paint during my second semester. I developed a swirling technique that destroyed many a brush, but one could not argue with the results. Colorful spirals swirling into another with each stroke complimenting the last. It was both a relaxing and nerve wracking process. I had to make smooth and calculated stokes and yet, I had to be quick about it and almost spontaneous. I did not use drying retardants, so if I took too long between spirals, the paint would dry, the spirals would blend poorly and the look of the whole painting would suffer.
Regardless of the time constraints, this painting style felt like therapy and that feeling translated down into the critiques as well. When I was first trying to find an abstract way of painting that I liked, I was often told that the work I produced looked like stress on a canvas. Sadly, that was pretty much the case.
