Part of my summer's design was to take an on-line class. (If you missed my post on designing your summer, here it is - The Art of Designing Your Summer - AGAIN) I signed up for Kelly Rae Robert's class, Mantra and Mixed Media.
Section 1 of the class surrounded getting quiet and writing mantras. This was hard due to kids, road construction, and a short attention span. Eventually, through old fashioned journaling, I came up with some helpful mantras. My mantras were 6 words or less and not in the mountain top yogi league. Here are some examples:
- Pause
- Trust the journey
- Permission Granted: Create
- How free do you want to be? (I went over the 6 word limit here, but it is SO good! My dear friend passed this mantra on to me. Now I am passing it on to you. Ask yourself this question when you are surrounded with clutter or negative friends or a boring book. If you want to be free - get rid of the clutter, negativity, and the boring book.)
I was excited to finish getting all quiet and philosophical because Section 2 was when the paints and gel medium came out. Kelly Rae, my encouraging on-line instructor, kept blathering on and on about giving yourself permission to be messy and to channel your inner 8 year old. She also said to follow your curiosity. I didn't think I would have a problem being messy because my house is constantly messy. I can block out globs of toothpaste on the counter for days. Wiping kitchen counters? Only when I have the energy. Me and Mess hang out together. I was so confident I wouldn't struggle with being messy, that I asked an actual 8 year old, my daughter, to join me in the studio. HA! Take that Kelly Rae.
The first painting lesson focused on 3 techniques - dripping, rolling, and smooshing paint. The 8 year old started off all organized and rainbowed all the cool colors in front of her and all the warm colors in front of me. I skipped the step of finding the vinyl tablecloth because it seemed like something my mother would insist on. No biggie if paint got on the table, it would probably look cool.
We started with dripping - crossing our canvases with acrylics and spraying the paint with a water bottle. The dripping process left muddled paint puddles on the table. I kept my paint puddles relatively contained with a stack of napkins we found in our mini van's glove compartment. (I also skipped the step of buying paper towels because I am a tree hugger.) The 8 year old was dripping and spraying with abandon. She had NO interest in the napkins and managed to sully the water IN the spray bottle. The mess was causing me stress.
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| This is a brayer. If you are painting with an eight year old, make sure to buy two brayers. |
Rolling, with a brayer, was less messy and my stress level decreased. The 8 year old had no problem mixing warm and cool colors. Didn't she remember Kelly Rae telling us that this would result in muddy colors? When I gently reminded her, she reminded me we were supposed to follow our curiosity. HA! Take that mom.
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| New mantra - Permission granted: Make a Mess. Ignore Common Sense. |
You probably saw this coming, but smooshing took the mess to URGENT ALERT panic level. Smooshing is a fun synonym for finger painting. During the instructional videos, Kelly Rae wiped her hands on her apron. Naturally, I skipped the step of buying aprons, so the 8 year old and I wiped our hands on the piles of used napkins.
I couldn't take anymore when I noticed the 8 year old had streaks of paint running down her leg. Lesson over. I sent the 8 year old off to take a shower, after yelling at her to not touch anything with her filthy paws and to check the bottom of her feet to make sure her creativity wasn't being tracked through the house. I was disappointed with myself. When had I become such a drag?
Sigh. Before our next painting session happens, I am ordering aprons, buying paper towels at Costco, and finding that damn vinyl table cloth.
Prairie Eydie
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| Oh all right. Here is my canvas. Don't judge. I got curious about mixing warm and cool colors too. |
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