Last Saturday i conducted an art workshop at the historic village of Evandale, in Northern Tasmania. 13 participants undertook the task of creating abstracts using spray paint, stencils along with mixed media such as coloured pencils, oil pastels, felt pens and acrylic paint..
As you can see by today’s photos, there was a lot going on and the results were extremely encouraging.
How would you handle the task of creating something without any deep thought or planning?
Do you always need control when planning and working on your art?
Can you handle the unexpected?
This is what confronted my class and they stood up to the pressure admirably.
Using mountboard and Canson Mi Teintes paper, students selected a number of objects and laid them down on their supports and applied a quick layer of spray paint. This process was often repeated, resulting in an image that was sub-consciously planned. Now it came the time to make conscious decisions as to what medium/s were to be added.
They came not knowing what they were in for, but left with a collection of successful artworks.
A good day was had by all!
I’m hoping to conduct a coloured pencil workshop at Evandale on November 11. I have 2 workshops at Latrobe in early September and another at Burnie in October.
Friday: Esoteric Art
Richard
artkleko's Weblog 
Richard I congratulate you on your successful workshop. And good luck in the future. I personally am at times intimated when confronted with new mediums and techniques. I like familarity with a tool, and go from there.
Cheers Walter. Never be afraid! I do understand where you’re coming from, but as long as we are happy, we will always produce meaningful art, no matter what media we work in.
This looks like a fun experiment with some lovely, interesting results. Might try something similar with the kids!
Experimenting is fun for everyone. Thanks for commenting.
To quote you “Do you always need control when planning and working on your art?
Can you handle the unexpected?”
You know my answer. Yes, yes, yes…. increasingly love it!
A balance is good but I do love SERENDIPITY! Hence free flow wet watercolour and even more serendipitous, painting watercolour technique on silk … no antidiffusant and no serti resist.
It is good to be brave sometimes and take risks. Better in painting than in some other things. But I do feel that in our society in general we are increasingly being encouraged to structure, plan, be in control. Playing safe is not necessarily bad but…. I am not a big risk taker in life but in my art I am getting braver and encourage my students to do the same.
We certainly have ‘tightened’ our approach to creativity, Evelyn. Too much emphasis on money, not enough on being ourselves.
It’s interesting looking at the above comments – in my mind there is structure in everything and we do need it ,but enjoying the unexpected is the way you can allow our art to have a “say” by allowing things to happen that are not controlled by us. Allowing a watercolour to dictate the direction and accepting blooms, runs and even mistakes and not be afraid for it to have gone way beyond where we started is great fun and freeing. Sure it can end up being a disaster but at the end of the day is just a piece of paper! Bet the workshop was great fun Richard
It was a great workshop, Gerry. Celebrating the ‘accidental’ can be fun and maybe we should employ this method more often. I certainly enjoy this kind of experience when I let myself go!