“When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It is only after a sort of  ‘get acquainted’ period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.
The source of my painting is the unconscious. I approach painting the same way I approach drawing. That is direct-with no preliminary studies. The drawings I do are relative to my painting but not for it. ” -Jackson Pollock.

What Jackson Pollock is saying is that he is does not know what he is doing when it comes to his process. Because of his lack of idea of what he is doing, he is able to freely explore and change what he is working. and not be restricted to his mind. The lack of restrictions is what enables him to freely explore his creativity. When he says the painting has a life of it’s own he means that, by the time he realizes what he has done, it’s become it’s own identity. Like most artists, the art becomes it’s own.