The Joy of Messy Hands! One way to get new ideas flowing is to have an “art time” meeting with myself. Of course adding family and friends when possible is also lots of fun and results in discovering different perspectives as we learn from each other’s techniques. It is a time to just play around with my art supplies without having an actual project in mind. Try it with whatever supplies you already have on hand. Here are some ideas to help you get started, they are arranged from what is less messy to the more adventurous.
Dry Marking: Gather any “dry” marking implements – crayons, pastels, color pencils, markers, etc. Use them to scribble, make random shapes and doodle all over a sheet of paper. Overlap some of them to see the different color combinations you can create.
Magazine collage: Tear both colorful and plain printed magazine pages into various shapes and strips. Glue these onto card stock, poster board or scrap cardboard. Save all your leftover bits and pieces to use at another time.
Pressed Acrylic Paint: For this one you might want to cover your work area, your clothes and anything else you don’t want to get paint on. This is one of my very favorite techniques. I use magazine pages, catalogs, advertisements but I start with the pages bound and then tear them out to dry. Squirt paint squiggles on one page, then press a second page on top and ‘squish’ it around. Pull them apart and repeat with as many colors as you like. Then lay them aside to dry and start all over again.
Surprisingly, none of these take a lot of time or supplies to do. It is easy to get lost in the process (that’s the point) and time passes without my even noticing. I hope you make time to try one or more of these techniques, remember to not set end expectations other than to have fun and enjoy the adventure of discovery. A day that ends with messy hands was a fun day! Let me know how it goes.