Beautiful Rainbow Oops
What began as an experiment with layered palette knife scraping techniques slowly evolved into
a vibrant abstract painting full of texture, buried color, and unexpected movement.
10 May 2026
After completing a small 20 x 20 cm palette knife scraping technique piece, I decided I liked the process so much that I wanted to try one nearly twice as big.
It was not long after I began that I had a slight moment of panic. This technique uses a lot of paint.
I started with my best paints but quickly realized that many of the middle layers could be built using some of the cheaper paints I bought when I was first starting out. Those early layers helped create the texture, movement, and history underneath the surface before I began finishing the piece with some of my favorite Golden, Liquitex, and Amsterdam paints.
The joy and calmness of using this technique once again did not disappoint me. Whenever I needed a break during the day, I could sit down and add a few layers before needing to let it dry again.
I can easily see myself always having one of these paintings in progress because the process feels so flexible and forgiving. The setup is simple: canvas, paint, and a palette knife. Each session only lasts twenty or thirty minutes before it is time to step away again. There is something incredibly relaxing about building a painting slowly over time and allowing each layer to reveal unexpected colors and textures underneath.
As the painting developed, it began shifting between moods depending on the colors and direction of the marks. Some areas felt almost digital or fragmented, while others reminded me of reflections, scattered light, or little bursts of color floating across water. Bright pinks, turquoise blues, warm oranges, and flashes of metallic color all began interacting in ways I never could have planned intentionally.
I also rotated the canvas constantly while working so I would not get stuck making marks in only one direction. One of the things I love most about the finished piece is that it almost feels like two different paintings depending on whether it is hung vertically or horizontally.
As always, I let my son name my paintings, and his title for this one instantly made me smile.
“Beautiful Rainbow Oops.”
He said it looked like a rainbow that had been scattered with paint, which honestly felt perfect for this piece. It immediately reminded me of ‘Beautiful Oops’ by Barney Saltzberg, one of our favorite books to read together when he was little. The book celebrates mistakes, accidents, and imperfections becoming something unexpected and beautiful, and it made me happy realizing that message stayed with him all these years later and somehow found its way into the naming of this painting.
The more I paint, the more I realize that some of the most interesting parts of art happen in the layers you did not plan, the colors that accidentally collide, and the moments where you stop trying to control every outcome. Sometimes beauty really does appear through the “oops” moments, and maybe that is true for far more than just painting.