Unlock Your Creativity: Mark Making with Everyday Objects

This class is about experimenting and exploring, about combating perfectionism and opening up to new discoveries. Closely observing an object allows us to be really present and fully immersed in the activity. This can help you relax and get into the flow – a state of mind where you can be most creative.

You will be experimenting with different everyday objects to get to know their respective mark making qualities. Brushes will only be used to apply paint to those objects and materials, but not as a painting tool themselves. There is a kind of restriction that comes with using traditional painting tools, because we have already learned too much about the “right” way to use them. Through the new ways of holding and using our objects we will free ourselves from those rules.

This class is perfect for beginners and people who want to get started creating again or are stuck and aren’t being able to create. For me this way of creating was a great start into a regular art practice and I have benefited from it in many ways.

I encourage you to leave all assumptions about your creativity and skills behind and embrace your ability to create like a child again. This class should help you become more playful in your creative explorations. 

After completing this class, you will be familiar with a variety of mark making techniques and you should have a series of artworks which you could frame or use for such things as greeting cards or bookmarks. You could also digitize them to create patterns or backgrounds and upload them to print-on-demand sites - the possibilities are countless.

This class will help you to

• become more flexible in your creative practice 
• improve your observation
• intuitively approach composition and color

Now follows a list of the objects I will be using in the respective lessons. You can find a PDF with further objects for your inspiration in the resources section of this class.

Basic Mark Making: 

• Cardboard box
• Chopsticks
• Sponge
• Shampoo bottle lid

Objects From the Bathroom:

• Cream tube
• Toothbrush
• Comb
• Cotton pad

Objects From the Kitchen:

• Sponge
• Silicone muffin cup
• Chopsticks
• Toothpicks

Packaging Materials:

• Chocolate candy packaging
• Bubble wrap
• Lids
• Food container

Nets & Stencils:

• Soft fruit net
• Plastic net
• Doily
• Stencil

So let's get started - see you in class! 

Thanks to Johny Grimes for the wonderful music "Nostalgia".
https://soundcloud.com/johny-grimes | Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported

• Introduction
• Class Project
• Materials and Workspace
• Various Kinds of Paints
• Color Mixing and Inspiration
• Basic Mark Making
• Collecting the Objects
• Objects From the Bathroom
• Objects From the Kitchen
• Packaging Material
• Nets and Stencils
• What to Do With Your Creations
• Final Thoughts