I was happy to host this week's drawing challenge with a theme of Discovery. Please enjoy the personal and beautiful discoveries by these creative researchers, explorers and makers: Ariane, Tania, Norma, Susan, Kristen, Renilde, Sabine, Stefanie, Helen, Roberto, and me (below).
DISCOVERY
Holding up this theme up as a creative viewfinder, I became mindful of various moments when I was
learning something new.
This
week I brought a box of salt water taffy to school to share with my
painting students. We made short order of the box and I was left with a
colorful pile of empty wrappers. Inspiration! I got out the gel medium,
prepared a stretched canvas and began. I glopped gel medium, layered, cut,
composed, adjusted the composition and re-/discovered these things in
the process:
- act promptly when a visual idea hugs you;
- colors can deceive: yellow might be lemon or banana;
- art materials are everywhere, including the waste bin;
- wax wrappers saturated with gel medium are stained glass windows;
- repositioning often keeps a composition plastic;
- reorienting a canvas for display tests the composition's strength;
- edges matter;
- students are inspired by a teacher immersed in the creative process;
- students are entertained by glue covered hands;
- taffy is yummy.
Thank you to all for participating in this creative research.
