14. Tend to make a lot of mistakes in life? An eraser might be your new friend.
12. If you’re stuck in a dust bowl, use that dust. Land art is a great way to make art inexpensively, and with what’s around you.
Ex. James Turrell purchased Roden Crater in 1979, and has been pushing dirt to create a gigantic naked-eye observatory ever since.
11. If you’re struggling with diversity in color, experiment with Crayons.
Ex. According to Stephen Von Worley, the number of Crayola colors doubles every 28 years.
10. If you’re strapped for cash, and you’ve just finished your oatmeal, consider making a pinhole camera from it’s packaging.
Ex: A pinhole camera made from an oatmeal box. The pinhole is in the centre. The black plastic which normally surrounds this camera (see picture above) has been removed.
9. Make something native to your culture’s history.
Ex. Pre-1889 Navajo rug; a tapestry weave with interlocked joints made with handspun yarns and synthetic dyes.
8. If the work is becoming too literal, try abstracting it. Separate from the overwhelming sad reality of nature.
Ex. L’Escargot 1952-1953 Henri Matisse (1869-1954 French) Gouache, collage on paper.
7. Tone can be used to subtly shift perceptions in surface; using shading techniques such as blending, hatching and stippling, and without the use of line.
Ex. ‘The Artist’s Mother,’ Georges Seurat, 1882-1883, Conté pencil, 12⅞ x 9½.
6. When your story is best told in three dimensions, consider an armature; a structural skeleton that provides stability to a framework.
Ex. Hadrosaurus Foulkii, Bronze, 15′, 2003. Haddonfield, NJ. Built from heavy, stiff aluminum wire.
5. Use more white.
Kandinsky writes “It is not a dead silence, but one pregnant with possibilities,” from ‘Concerning the Spiritual in Art.’ Published in 1911.
4. Sand is not an obvious, but useful material. Dry sand is loose, but when the proper amount of water is applied, sand becomes adherent.
Ex. Sand made into scultpure, at the “Dinostory” exhibit in Frankston, Victoria, Australia.
3. You can create images by assembling small pieces of colored glass, stone or other materials, in a process called mosaic.
Ex. 3rd Century mosaics of Bikini Girls at the Villa Romana in Sicily.
2. Purple is an interesting color. You can achieve this hue by mixing equal parts blue, and red.
Common connotations might include: royalty, imperialism, nobility, Easter, Mardi Gras, upper class, poison, friendship, sharing, wisdom, homosexuality, and sympathy.
1. Pointillism is a way to show depth.
