The Technique

• The rich texture and look of the Blue Veil is due as much to the thick resin paint as it is to the techniques used to render it. The acrylic resin was applied by Morris in a series of layers, which mix and blend some of the colors and create lines that look like progressive steps. The paint was applied with pieces of gauze attached to long sticks, allowing Morris to work from a distance but with tight precision.
  
  

The Paints

• Acrylic resin paints have only been around since the 1950s and were brand new when Morris completed the Blue Veil in 1959. Acrylic resins dry much faster than oil-based paints, the medium of choice for most of painting's history. The paint is also opaque rather than transparent like oil and watercolor paints, meaning the canvas or background colors do not show through with acrylic resin. Acrylic resins also resist cracking and peeling better than oil-based paints but are harder to clean because they are less malleable.
  
  

Colors Used

• Blue Veil uses a variety of colors and blends of colors, the specifics of which are a secret guarded by the artist himself. The painting features an abundances of blue, in many different shades as well as red and green. Colors are rendered in layered stripes that move across the canvas in wave patterns, much like how the wind blows across water.
  
  

About the Painting

• At the time of publication, Blue Veil is currently on display at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and is available to be seen by the general public. It is considered a prime example of the Color Field movement, which was an important part of the larger American abstract art movement.