art, art experiments, art ideas, art lesson, art teachers, artist, artwork, creating art, creative art, painting, Patricia Allingham Carlson, pink cadillac, watercolor, watercolor and sand, watercolor technique
Sometimes I am brimming with ideas for artworks I want to paint. Often I am not. In our busy lives we sometimes don’t have the time to create, express the ideas swimming around in our heads when we have them; how frustrating to have the time to create and no ideas to work with!
On such days I may organize my completed work, touch up some old work, or just haul out a variety of materials and experiment.
I love experiment day, it is the most fun kind of grown-up art play I can imagine.
Outside I dumped sand onto paper, wet it, drew in it with my finger, then dropped concentrated watercolor paint onto it. Then I let it dry, and brushed off the sand.
That was really fun!
(By the way, I kept the colored sand for another future experiment!)
Here’s what one image looked like dry. My own imagination does not process mechanically; it took a facebook viewer to say she saw an automobile in the image. Yep, there was a car.
I researched different types of cars, found an old Cadillac that fit the need. Started sketching it in.
And it became Pink Cadillac.
Fun indeed, and I had painted my first realistic car. That was a challenge I learned from, set up by chance and experimenting.
That is just what I love about experimental approaches. You never know what new idea will be born, what texture or color or form might be created. If you can imagine a unique way to apply paint, why not try it? Nothing to lose, right? And if you find something cool that works for you, share it with me— Please!
Have a fabulous day, all.