Ruth Collis - Thick Paint Art

Why do you like to make art?
To see what new amazing discoveries can be made from this thick paint, from paint so thick it turns into sculpture, how light reflects a kaleidoscope from transparent, candy like solid paint that looks like glass, to swirling pourable colors that are captivating as well as cuttable!

What subjects do you prefer? Why?
Underwater coral reefs tend to work well with the unbelievable grit textures & jelly shapes that can be formed from this thick, see-through, flexible 3-D paint.

What processes and techniques do you use? Why?

• Drying paint to re-apply to the painting, Dry-on-Dry makes the shapes more 3-D & adds to a myriad of additional textures.
• Using shapes that form from palette paint that are too cool to throw away.
• Using left-over dried paint to make my own palettes, or cuttable paintskins can be turned into mosaics or cuttable textures.
• Techniques are only all the ways in which I test what the thick paint can do: roll, cut, punch, squeeze, squish, swirl, braid, and palette knife, to name a few.

How is your work different from others?
Have you ever seen sculptable forms made of solid paint? Paint that looks like candy? See-through gel flowers that look like hard glass but are really flexible forms of entertainment? Paint that truly raises off the surface several INCHES & dried in matter of days? I'm still discovering more endlessly!

What do you see in your artwork?
A new revolution. Books have now been made, referring to this thick paint as the "New Acrylics."

What do other people say they see?
Wonder. Amazement. Disbelief. Weird. No comment. Don't know what they're looking at. Just the best of the best. Love the shapes, colors, & forms. Most all I have shown is the good stuff. It looks like glass... Thats paint?!

What are your goals and aspirations as an artist?
To use my creative inquisitiveness to build the physical artistic gardens of my dreams, that will allow me to be able to create my own environment & designs; & help others needing creativity in the process.

Who or what inspires you?
I am not inspired by other past artists really, but by what products the paint manufacturers of today make and their continual refinement of them that aids more capabilities, seeing what a medium can do, disovering unintended forms shape together in the palette, or a neat tool that creates a fun effect, and common every day objects found around you, that mimic some shape, color, or idea that turns into great art through my eyes. I often wear a particular set of sunglasses so to speak (say thick paint sunglasses) that when put on, all of life seen through them, continually shows new ideas I must try to create (like a 3-D leaf, sea anemone, or pipe coral).

How long have you been painting?
All my life from own studies to class assignments, 23 years of freelance mural work, graphic design of logos, business cards, website design, first fine art painting being an international sale, painting commissions for collectors, participation at Redondo Beach Pier Chalk Art Festival, to in the last 5 years, now incorporating more fascinating discoveries of what this thick paint can do into collectible art form originals.

What made you think of this Thick Paint idea?
Liquitex paint manufacturer came up with these inventive paint tubes of thick flexible paint called “Structural Paint” and decorative tips you screw on the top long ago. Problem was the paint shrunk when dry and didn’t retain its shape, and also one squeeze rendered the whole tube of paint gone, for a high price.

I never forgot my fascination with how thick paint could be so real you could sculpt with it and create immense texture that far surpassed all the boring paintings of history I had to study in school.

Now, years later, manufacturers make better paint that holds shapes with not much shrinkage and I have found a company I can buy volumes from for a fraction of the price, that enables me to do testing of relentless shapes and forms from different methods of squishing, squeezing, peeling, or pouring liquified paint that dries flexible and still be manipulated into unheard of art forms, texture, and creations never explored in history. Technology improving the painting mediums has enabled such fascination with me.

Accomplishments:
Murals
Certificate in Art: Graphic Communication - Computer Graphics
BS degree
First painting an international sale
Custom tailored commissions
Impasto texture often reaching over an inch high in all of history
Developed sculptural paint
Invented transparent jelly-like paint to look like glass
Invented Dry-on-Dry technique
Texture style cited in North Carolina Virtual Public Schools Online Art 1 course

Style & Inspiration

Biography