I began a new series of four abstract paintings on canvas in a slim vertical shape 10" x 48". My first step was to paint a background on all four at once. To do this, I first drew lines randomly across the canvas in white, black, blues, emerald green, and alizarin crimson. Then I took a large wet brush and while the lines were still wet, brushed over the whole canvas, blending the colors.
I like to let the canvas show through in this process, which creates a sense of lightness in the background. My first two canvases came out darker because of the density of the painted lines, so I used fewer lines of lighter colors in the second two canvases.