So I think as an artist it's nice to have the artist touch from beginning to end.
Instead of using a canvas to wrap it I use a wooden panel just because of the resin,
I have to keep it nice and level so that it doesn't cool towards the center.
This one is for a 36 by 36 piece.
Got my four sides now I'm gonna go frame it.
[Paola Gracey] I'm Paola Gracey, I'm an artist and chemist practicing chemist during the
day and then night is when I start to paint and become alive.
The thicker the border, I love the way that the paint looks when it's dripped over it.
And so I place these so to make sure I have a nice 45 degree angle before I add the nails
to it to reinforce it.
So now I'm gonna add the plywood to the top and this of course will be my background.
And let me switch out to the staple gun.
So I'll paint the background and then I'll apply the glitter.
And then I'll do several layers of resin.
And then this is what the pieces actually look like before I apply the acrylics.
I don't use a typical easel.
My easel is the ground.
[Female In The Background] Are you mixing chemicals into some of the paints?
[Paola] Yeah so like I'll add a pouring medium to it.
It's like an experiment for me.
I started working with this technique of painting back in 2004.
I've noticed over the years it's gotten better and a lot of it has to do with my documentation,
so just like I would in the laboratory I document in my lab notebook all my materials, you know,
all my observations and then I use that information to work on the next piece.
The colors I use mostly are like jewel tones and blues and then I guess a lot of it the
colors that I use are influenced by science and growing up in South Florida, the colorful
atmosphere and so I like to throw in a shrill orange or yellow a neon yellow into the piece.
They just speak to me in different ways and I don't know that people understand it it's
just, you know, how they speak to me is how I choose what color will go next to the other.
I don't ever let the canvas kind of stop.
This is where I lift it up and let gravity do it's thing.
There we go, what do you think?
You see how some really start to take off and other are, it's kind of like the race
of the drips!
So I try to control it but at the same time its more of an organic flow to it, and so
I'll just assist them and kind of give them momentum.
Alright Gino, we can bring it down now.
Alright, and that's the end.
I like the way it is.
I bring it back down.
I have to leave it to dry for a couple days, and that's it.
My grandmothers were artists and so I was always exposed to that.
When I was studying doing my undergraduate in chemistry I always took a painting class
to help stress and there is when I started to merge the science and the art.
When I was taking a biochemistry class whatever I was studying I would incorporate into the
painting.
The piece that I just did live today was the Kinetic Energy Series.
I love looking at images form the Hubble Telescope, you know, the amount of Kinetic Energy out
there in outer space, if you don't know, you know, much the way that I like to exhibit
it is where it looks like it's going against gravity.
So it kind of confuses people and they think I throw it in, so I kind of like that you
know unknown, and that mystical aspect of how did you get that paint to do what it did.
So this piece is from the Spectrum Series, when you look at certain chemicals under the
microscope a lot of them have that holographic effect, and it's just beautiful.
I wanted to try to find a glitter that would represent that.
When I'm in the laboratory analyzing different substances we use, you know, liquid chromatography
and so these are what my results look like at the end of the day.
I've had several people ask me well, why don't you cover the acrylic on the top with the
resin, and my answer to them is well I like the texture, 'cause if I were to cover it
with the resin you loose that effect of the matte against the high sheen.
It just adds like this, you know, depth to it and then just the glitter when you walk
past it the piece becomes alive.
Especially when you have the right lighting and it really demands your attention.
It's so much fun to work with.