Art for art's sake

That was fun, remind me of hazy summer days in my school garden. We’d cover the shed in paper, let the children paint all over it, then in the afternoon or next day give them spray bottles. They played like this for hours! Totally absorbed and learning so much. We also used to put lots of big blocks of ice in a builders tray, give the children little pots of salt and spoons and pipettes  with food dye in little bottles. Again hours and hours of investigation. Those were the days! Now they’re not allowed salt where I used to work! 

Hi, Apologies for being so slack on here, but I have been so busy with people coming to do jobs - which means setting an early alarm clock - and then by the end of the week I've been totally wiped out. But it's good to get things done around the house. We had a bird strike which smashed one of our windows too. Big bird!. Shut up, rambling now.

Yes, I am an artist and trying hard to get back to it at the moment. But have an exhibition booked for the end of the year - which may be all I can manage. Hope to get a few more dates in my diary. Nice to see work on this thread. Hugs to you all,

Rainie x

PS I can gaurantee that every time I log on here, my internet connection goes. Does this happen to anybody else?

Picasso said that it took him a lifetime to learn to paint like a child again. We all need more play time. It's good for you to let go and have fun. I hope you will work over the top of your experiments now??  Rainie x

  'Life of the World' 

Regarding a previous reference to the style of aboriginal painting, these are two more from the same series.

Dot painting, as a technique, is really restful once you get into it and you might find it a worthwhile thing to try. Dot-doodling is also a good way to start, using patterns and random shapes. Try it with the Sea & Sky theme using different sized dots to create movement and distance.

 'In Plain Sight'

I think it was Einstein who said playing is a child’s ‘work’. We saw that first hand and the longer the children were absorbed in their ‘work’ the more they learned. We also had a huge sandpit. The children would spend hours making channels, rivers, damns and chutes with drainpipes. Such wonderful learning experiences. It’s so sad that in most schools now there is very little time to play. Play is seen as a holding activity. Something for children to do while the real learning work is being set up, or after they have done the real learning! But I know differently! So anyway I totally agree that the learning is through playing, trying things out, making mistakes and trying again.
im off my soapbox now! 

Thanks Raineday 

Jac x

Today’s art, painted for my friend’s birthday. 

That's a bit special Shadders, lucky friend.

Thanks Backkite, I like getting lost in the process. Looking intently at something and concentrating stops all the negativity invading my thoughts. So art for arts sake is definitely working! 
Jac x

That's a nice gift. Beautiful.

I was wondering if you had/used a computer with a programme like Photoshop or Painter for example?

I'm posting some mixed media pieces which have then been scanned into the computer and worked on therein. Might give you some ideas as to how you might use tissue in layers, for example, and then work over painted layers you've already done. It's a great way of freeing things up when you don't want to paint 'things'. You don't actually need a scanner, just download pix from your phone of what you made and then have some fun losing yourself in colours and shapes.

Rainie x

These are part of a series which was all about the nature of different bodies of water and how it made you feel when you were immersed in it. I still go back to this and just enjoy moving the paint about and taking myself back to those places in my head. 

Wow Raineday, they are the closest I’ve come to seeing something that goes some way in expressing how I felt that day in Devon, particularly the last one. I’ll have a go at that.  Thank you

Jac x