Happy Halloween! Here is a little art prompt to help you chill and relax after your busy Halloween festivities...
I have been very inspired by line drawings lately! I find them to be very relaxing to do, almost meditative. I also love the look of an entire page covered in lines!
For this prompt you will need
Start by placing a line randomly on your page. This line could be anything you want, short, long, curved, straight, zig zagged...
Now add some weight to sections of your line for visual interest by thickening the line in some places. Next draw a line in response to your first line. This could be an echo line or it could bisect your first line, again this could be anything you want. There is no right or wrong.
Continue drawing lines in response to your previous lines until your page is filled up. You may wish to color in some of the shapes that your lines create.
After my line drawing was done I decided to add some details to my lines with my white Uni Ball gel pen.
I love the finished piece! It was so relaxing to just sit and draw lines in this way. I played some Native American Flute Music in the background while I worked which really added to the calming experience for me.
Here are some other examples of beautiful line drawings I have found on the web. I hope they inspire you as they have me!
As always I would love to hear from you about your experience with this prompt so feel free to leave a comment or a picture of your take on this prompt.
For this weeks prompt we are going to play with paint. There is no right or wrong here, the idea is to let yourself play and see what happens. There is no need to control the outcome, just let go and explore the medium. See what unfolds!
Materials:
Paper or sketch book
Paint I recommend acrylic for this but if you have tube watercolors that will work too.
Old business card or plastic card such as a used gift card.
Detail paint brush
White gel pen (optional)
To begin choose your colors of paint. I used Bronze Yellow and Burnt Umber from Liquitex, Iridescent Pearl from Golden, and Process Magenta from Daler-Rowney. I also used a white uni-ball gel pen.
Start by adding spots of color to your page. I used the Magenta, Pearl, and Bronze for this part saving the Burnt Umber for later.
Next, Close your book (or if you are using a sheet of paper fold it in half). Press down and squish all that paint together, let it spread and mix as it will...
Open your book (or unfold your paper) You will have some sort of a symmetrical blob of color. You can choose to leave the symmetrical painting alone or you can manipulate it further. I chose the later. The paint at this point will be fairly thick so I used an old business card to scrape into the paint allowing the colors to mix together a bit more.
I scraped in a curved almost circular motion. I decided to leave it here at this point, but you could scrape it again in a different direction or even close the book (page) again and allow it to squish a second time. I went ahead an let it dry at this point.
I liked how it was looking but I wanted to do more with the negative space so I went back in with my Burnt Umber and a small detail brush to paint small clusters of circles. you could also use lines, spirals, dots, squares, or any shape to add interest to your negative space.
I liked how that looked, but I felt it still needed a little more so I went back in to my paint splotches and added some more circles with the White Gel pen.
The finished piece!
This might not qualify as "Fine Art" and it is not destined for a gallery, but for 45 min or so I played. I let go of all expectations and just allowed myself to explore the materials and I am happy with the result. When I finished I felt a sense of accomplishment. I felt rejuvenated and relaxed, and that is what process based art is about. It is about opening up and allowing yourself to experience the materials, giving in to the moment and letting your creativity flow. Human beings are natural born creators, ask any small child!
I challenge you to play with paint this week. Let your creativity flow. If you feel like sharing the result of your play session, I would love to see. Leave a comment with a photo of your work or a link to it below.
I am a big believer in artistic freedom in my art classes. I believe that there is a time for instruction and a time for play and experimentation. I think that as an artist both are necessary to further your own ability and to develop your own creative path. I have written before about TAB (Teaching For Artistic Behavior) here and process based art here. Both of these ideas focus on play and experimentation. I believe that adults as well as children can benefit from this type of art. Everyone is born creative but along the way many of us forget how to let go and play. Play is essential to our creative development and when it is neglected our creativity can often freeze. Many adults don't see themselves as creative, but that is not true, they are simply out of practice!
When we look at children's art, most of us can agree that creative play is as important if not more so than the finished product. Why then as adults do we not give ourselves that same freedom to explore and play without expectations of a finished piece of shareable art at the end.
Scribble Doodle
I believe that even as adults we can benefit from the experience of creating. I believe that in order to grow in our artistic creativity we need time to play with and explore our art supplies just as children do. If we can step back from our expectations and allow ourselves to be imperfect then we can enjoy art and reap all the benefits of inviting creativity into our lives!
Torn paper collage
Adults who engage in creative play may:
Experience lower stress and anxiety levels.
Find an outlet for self reflection and self expression.
Shut out the noise and experience a sense of calm and well-being.
Finger Paint- choose two or three paint colors and drip them onto a sheet of paper. Use your fingers to smear and squish the paint colors together. Notice how they move, how they combine and the new colors they create. Notice the feel of the paint allow it to squish through your fingers. make finger prints or hand prints.
Doodle/Draw- choose a pen or a pencil and let it dance or move across a page of paper. Try listening to music while you do this. How does the tempo or mood of the music influence your movements as you draw. Try coloring in some of the spaces you create with various colors. Use crayons, colored pencils, or paint to color your design.
Collage- Use old magazines, junk mail, or colorful scrap paper. Rip or cut the paper into new shapes. Arrange these shapes into a new pattern and glue it down to a backer paper or cardboard. Collages can be completely random or purposeful. They can be abstract or representational. They can tell a story or just be colors and shapes that speak to you. Have fun!
When you play and experiment with art it will not always be something you are proud to show off. That is OK. You must give yourself permission to make ugly art. Look at your art through the eyes of your inner child. Some art is made for the fridge, but some maybe not so much...some is made to go straight into that little blue bin. That is fine, not all art needs to be forever. The important thing to think about is did you have fun? Did you relax and enjoy the process? Did you forget about the outside world, if only for a little bit? Well if you did then you succeeded!
Not ready to commit your art to the fridge, but not ready to place it in the little blue bin either? Consider one of these other options.
Use it for the background of another artistic play session. Draw or paint on top of it! Layering art can often add enough visual interest to a piece of work that might make it fridge worthy!
Cut it up. Use the pieces for your next collage.
Write on top of it. Do you have a favorite song or quote? Perhaps you keep a journal or write poetry? Ugly art can make awesome backdrops for written work!
Remember to have fun and play. The only way to fail is to not try! If you are interested in continuing your creative play sessions consider following along on our weekly art prompts. These prompts are geared for all ages and levels of artist and they are designed to get you playing with art.
If you are like most of us then you have a lot of old magazines and catalogs laying around your house. Well, blow off the dust and create some one of a kind art! Here is how:
1. Gather supplies: you will need old magazines (the thinner pages work best), A paper cutter, Craft glue, Modpodge, and a sponge brush.
2. Choose pages with colors you like, the pictures don't matter.
3. Use paper cutter to cut into 2 inch wide strips. If you don't have a paper cutter measure out and mark cutting lines with a pencil and use scissors to cut along the line. 2 inch strips will give you 1/2" finished product. Strip may be thinner but they need to all be the same width.
4. Fold one side of the strip to the center point.
5. Do the same with the other side.
6. Fold in half along the center line with the edges tucked inside the fold.
5. Begin rolling the paper, keep your roll as tight as possible.
6. When you get to the end of the strip place a dot of glue on the end and glue it closed.
7. Attache your next strip with another dot of glue making sure edge of new strip meets the previous end but do not overlap the ends.
8. Continue in this manner until you have reached the desired coil size for your project.
9. Use the craft glue to glue the coils together into the desired shape. Separate folded strips may used to outline the coiled shape if you desire. Simply use the craft glue to attach the strips where the strips touch the coils.
10. Once your project is finished use your Modpodge to seal it with a protective glaze.
