Skip to main content

A summer of inky blots!

It's been a summer of experiments.  Playing with paint blobs, ink dribbles, and glue squirts.  Although results may on first glance look similar you'll see results of 2-3 varied processes. They all worked well for mindful exploration of media. I find the process to help connect my clients to their senses and to an abstract representation of behavior/action.

 Here are some highlights in a photo-essay sort of way (mind you it's my first, so bare with me).

Playing around with 'clean' mono printing. I called these "sac" prints because I used garbage bags "sacs" to sandwich the paints. Using this method leaves hands clean and lets the artist feel the paint squishing under their fingertips. You aught to try it!

Print taken at the crease of the "sac" and the table gives a mirror effect. Reminiscent of ink blots!

Also experimented with laser compatible transparency sheets and glue+india ink+watercolors. The effects were stunning.

Close-up of the glue+india ink print. The first print is highly saturated because all the ink transfers immediately while the other substances leave traces for ghost prints (see below for further examples). 




The india ink seems to repel the watercolor and the glue, and some interesting streaking and debris starts coming through.

Stay posted, for future experiments and for what I ended up doing with these!





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Capturing a Moment: Gelatin Printing

Lets just get right down to it, you've either tried it and loved it or you're currently wondering what I'm talking about. Gelatin prints that's what. A few years ago a student introduced me to the wonders of using homemade gelatin as a printing plate (sugar free kind). As it turns out it is a very versatile work surface that brings an element of intrigue and play into the work space. When my clients first hear I'll be bringing in gelatin, they seek out napkins and forks and eagerly away the obviously tasty snack. The sound of dreams shattering as I pull-out the gelatin plates is audible (if only short lived). Soon everyone is poking and wiggling the gelatin and wondering what we'll be doing with it. Play is an important aspect of what I do. So is creativity and genuine interest. These things are however harder to come-by in adults than their younger counterparts (who jump-into explorer mode instinctively).  Sometimes I have to coerce these attr

Technique Book #1

Returning from this years’ AATA Conference in San Antonio thankful to have connected and reconnected with so many amazing art therapists. It’s been busy and I didn’t mean to set the blog aside, but here’s some visual yummies to begin to make things up. Last August (yep, 2013) I made a small accordion book. In this accordion style, I essentially pieces together several strips of paper into one continuous page that folds at repeating intervals. I gave the book purpose when I decided to use it as a place to document art techniques. These art techniques were small samplings of ones I would be using in my groups. Today I completed the small book and am posting some of the images here with brief dialogue on some of the techniques. If there's interest I will consider separate posts later-on. Book Cover: Layered tissue paper with pressed leaves. Accordion style pages were 'seamed' with strips of tea bags. On left: Tea bag sheets can be used to age/antique.   On

Stress Relief Recipe Book

Found some time this weekend to de-stress and what better way than delving into one of those “for later” piles. This particular pile consisted of a menagerie of brown paper bags (and the envelopes they were mailed-in). They were accompanied by notes, quotes, dyed papers, hand made paper, ribbons, and on and on, etc.   These bits of mail have been coming-in at wonderfully random intervals for maybe 2 months. Now it is time to bind the collection into the Stress Relief Recipe Book it was meant for. To the bag full of bits of mail I also added: ruler, pencil, x-acto blade (and scissors), ice-pic, elmers (and other glues), thick string, wax candle (used it to wax the string), thick-blunt needle, and cardboard. *for anyone trying this out for the first time - go ahead and make your life simpler by having the inserts all be the same measurements (or close to it). First there was extensive Pinterest and Google searches for DIY paper bag books, but those mostly consisted