For Scatter Sam Gilliam employed a technique he first implemented in 1967. He poured thinned acrylic paint onto unstretched and unprimed canvas that he subsequently manipulated by folding and crumpling the saturated fabric. He then stretched the canvas over a frame to replicate the appearance of traditionally painted canvases. In 1968, Gilliam began to abandon the stretcher altogether, allowing his paintings to become immersive large swaths of canvas draped from gallery walls and ceilings.