Blob art

As part of the Life Book course, Tam introduced us to the wonderfully whimsical 'blob art'

Here is my finished piece.

We started out with a long strip of folded paper which we added splodges, drips and squidges of paint, the paper was then folded up again and smooched all over to squelch out those blobs. Once opened this is what I had to work with.

Our task was to try and see critters in the blobs, which at first I found a little hard to see but once I started doodling, all manner of weird and wonderful creatures began to emerge.

I drew outlines around dominant shapes and formed them into beings.

I then blanked out the background a little with a neutral coloured wash of acrylic paint.

And then it was time to start adding some details, I used acrylic paint and neocolours to add extra colour and dimension..

The outlines were done very loosely with a black biro ( as per Tams instructions) and the critters began to develop cheeky little personalities all of their own.

I have to say this is one of the most fun forms of art I have ever tried. When I first watched the video I wondered if it was all a little bit weird and pointless but discovered it was neither.

It was definitely a valuable lesson in allowing your imagination to guide your pencil.

The whole thing reminded me of a similar exercise I completed at primary school, blobs of acrylic paint, folded and smoothed creating mirror image butterfly wings.

Maybe we should revisit these fun elementary practices more often and unleash the imaginative child within.

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

Pablo Picasso