Every now and then I try to get the people in the art group that I teach...
...to step out of their comfort zone ...
...and have a go at something that takes them into uncharted territory!
So this week they came into the studio to find drawing paper pasted up on walls and windows.
Sticks with pressed charcoal and chalk pastels taped to the ends and different sized brushes also on long pieces of garden bamboo .
Oow! Aww! Scary!
One or two suggested that after a half hour...maybe they could revert to their safe paintings!
But I got tough!
Result?....Fun and laughter as they tried to work with their arm at full length and the bamboo held almost out of control at the very end...a bit like Harry Potter waving the wand and casting a spell!
I don't think that they will be mounting or framing any of them...
...but the end results were better than they thought they were capable of.
And one or two even got so into it that they didn't want to stop...
...but those "potters" were due in after them so all had to end.
Here are a few of the morning's attempts.
I believe that Matisse often painted with long brushes and chalks on the end of sticks...
..certainly at the end of his painting life when often he was unable to stand...
...but I should think also to loosen up his work...
.... the tendency always in art is to " pretty" things a bit too much.
