Every Monday is Tip Day! Try Exploratory Art

Every Monday is Tip Day! Grab a cup of coffee and get over the Monday morning bump with tips, tools, and inspiration from Perch.

This Week: Try Exploratory Art

When I was in junior high, all seventh graders were required to take a quarter of exploratory art. We learned different techniques, like gradation scales, the color wheel, shading, watercolor, oil pastels, still life drawing, and drawing with ink.

In my professional life, with all of the digital tools available to me, I almost never utilize any of those techniques. Rather than mixing colors to arrive at the perfect shade, I simply choose the spot color I need and move on from there. Rather than staging and working for days to draw a still life, I simply take a digital photograph, place it in my digital artwork, and use it as a model as needed.

The Art of the Sketchpad

A few weeks ago I went to Hobby Lobby for a few items and came home with several, including a new, smaller sketchpad. I had a conference call the next morning, so as I was waiting for the other caller to log on, et cetera, I staged a mini still life with my Polaroid OneStep Land Camera and began to sketch. Minutes later, I had established the scale and perspective, created a solid outline, and had begun to fill in the details. I couldn’t finish before the call began, so I spent another ten or so minutes that afternoon filling in the rest. Given that I haven’t sketched a still life in about fifteen years, it wasn’t bad!

That exercise triggered so many memories and set a creative course for the rest of my day. It felt like learning to ride a bike again and made me want to keep my sketchpad on hand throughout my very digital day.

This week, take some time for exploratory art. Try something you haven’t tried in a while. Try watercolor, or clay modeling, or tying macramé knots with colorful yarn. It may not directly affect your work or the project you are working on, but it can help open up a creative avenue through what otherwise might have been a roadblock.

And most importantly, have fun!