You find yourself face to face with a swirl of purples, blues, pinks, and whites. Following their abstract pattern, you can’t decide if your looking at it upside down or rightside up. Lily Wyle hopes to portray this abstractness in all of her pieces. The circular canvas dripping in acrylic paint is just one in an array of many projects Wyle has done. Beginning this art style just a few months back, she has already created more than a dozen of these wowing pieces of art, many of which have already been sold at the craft arts fair held in the Tam Valley Community Center. “I’ve been experimenting since my show last weekend where I sold most of my current pieces. It’s a hit or miss situation,” Wyle said when describing her new found interest. ”With acrylic pouring you never know how it’s going to turn out. The most in depth you can get is with the colors.”
Acrylic pouring is an art form that takes a lot of time and patience on Wyle’s part, with many tedious steps to follow. The first step is mixing the paint. “I use a mixture of floetrol, which liquefies acrylic paint, because it is really thick, and I use lube with water. I mix each color separately and then put each color into a cup all together.” Following the color mixing, comes the pour. “I then flip the cup onto the canvas. After it’s poured, it spreads out and you move it around to the areas you want.” After the pour comes touch ups, allowing Wyle to make it fit her vision. “I come in with a culinary torch, to make the cells bigger. Those are the circles you see on the canvas.”
Many of Wyle’s acrylic pourings are created from inspiration that surrounds her. “My inspiration comes from when I am experimenting. I get ideas as I’m going through it.” While she has no control over the final product, and how the paint will flow onto the canvas, she does find ways to incorporate her own style in the painting. “I get inspired by the ocean, and those colors like blues and greens.”
Acrylic pouring is just one type of art that Wyle is interested in, as she has been creating art all her life. “I have been interested in art basically my whole life. My parents have always taken me to museums, and I would always have a sketchbook in my hand.” Beginning with basic pencil sketches in a small sketchbook, Wyle then moved on to painting and ceramics. “It’s super frustrating because there are so many things that can go wrong. With ceramics you can never really go back, you either throw a good piece or you don’t.” During this summer she stumbled upon acrylic pouring, her new sensation. “In this current stage, acrylic paint would definitely be my favorite. I will always have sketching in the back of my mind though, because I have always loved to sketch. It is such an easy outlet.”
While taking inspiration from other artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, and James Jean, Wyle still finds ways to stay unique and find her personal style. “Uniqueness is a huge thing for me. I’ve always strived to have my own unique style. I have struggled with originality in the past. When people give me suggestions I enjoy their criticism, but it puts ideas into my head that I feel like aren’t mine, which I don’t really like.”
Wyle hopes to pursue art in her future, and looks forward to selling more of her work, so not only can her family and friends enjoy it, but other art lovers as well.