P is for Play and Q is for Quote

"We do not quit playing because we grow old; We grow old because we quit playing." 

Oliver Wendell Holmes

I missed posting yesterday, so I am combining two ideas into one today. I think they fit together perfectly.

The quote above hangs in the children's art studio at Multnomah Arts Center where I teach painting to kids age five to eleven. I stop to read these words every time I am in the studio, but, I think they really belong in art room at the Assisted Living, because I think they are  far more relevant to my students at the other end of the age spectrum.

My goal in teaching seniors has always been to bring pleasure and  and stimulation into the lives of my elder students.  On one level this is my attempt to create a model for a more enriched future for myself (and all my rapidly aging friends), so that someone will offer high-quality art classes when I am older and have less access to the classes and pursuits that make me life so rich today.

What I did not expect was that a few hours a week of art classes could result in so much .... so much learning, so much growth, so much new confidence, so much beautiful art, and most unexpectedly, so much fun and even laughter. To quote a student, "Drawing til your hands ache burns off stress, is a lot of fun, AND, you get a flower when your done."

I do not know who is getting the most out of this opportunity - but let me share some of the joyful work that has appeared in our art classes.

Lillain Pakos: Leaves and Patterns

Carol Mussler: Tree in Bloom

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Frances Nishimura: Trees

Rosemary Cramer: Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe

I is for Intuitive Painting

 Always on the lookout for inspiring ideas, I saw a YouTube video about Intuitive Painting. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I am trying to get out of my own way when painting - putting down lines or shapes or colors and seeing where it goes. But I had never heard of Intuitive Painting - which is essentially smooshing a bunch of acrylics paint onto the canvas, and in this method, covering it with saran wrap and pushing the paint around. When you take off the saran, you spend time looking at the image to see what appears.

This seemed like a great idea - which actually led to another one. I chose my colors, in a cool mood, smooshed and pushed the paint, but when I peeled off the saran I saw that there was plenty of paint on the wrap as well as some pattern. So, thinking about printing, I laid the paint covered saran back on the painting and smooshed and pushed some more ... and did it again, layering paint and pattern. The image on the right shows the work in progress.

At some point, my inner voice said stop. Staring at the painting I saw mountains in clouds, a stream, grass lands and lovely cool light. This all called out for trees - so I painted them in and the painting felt complete.

In my explorations of the Art Every Day Month Challenge, I came across this site which shows another version of this process and gives a good description of the method. Check it out this post about plastic wrap art technique at Art by Serena Go to My Art Projects.