Playing with Paint in the Sketchbook: "Anything But a Paintbrush"

Have you heard about the "Anything But a Backpack" spirit days that schools do? The concept is that you bring your stuff to school in any sort of container that is not a backpack. People get super creative, carrying their books around in a suitcase, stroller, laundry basket, wheelbarrow, etc. I would have had great fun with this as a student. Or, for that matter, as a teacher! 

I used the "Anything but a Backpack" concept for this sketchbook painting, which I'm calling "Anything but a Paintbrush."

This all started because there wasn't enough room on my paint shelves for all of the newest bottles of paint I got as a Plaid Creator. In the process of reorganizing, I came across four bottles of Folk Art Acrylic that were 98% empty. It was silly to have nearly empty bottles taking up prime real estate, but I wasn't about to waste them either. So I opened to a clean page in my sketchbook, took the lid off a bottle of paint, and smeared it all around the page. When no more would come out, I banged the bottle on the sketchbook to get the last little bits out, then smeared those around the page with the bottle. 

Light green first, then kelly green, blue, and purple. Four colors, no brushes!

When that was dry, I looked around my desk for other items I could use to add paint to the pages. Bubble wrap added really fun dots to my artwork. 

Next, pink circles using a cardboard tube. 

Orange swipes with an old business card!

White shapes with a Command hook!

Purple lines with a skewer! (No clue why there was a skewer on my desk. It's been awhile since I've cleaned.)

More pink circles, then light blue fingerprints!

One final touch: While the paint was still wet, I dragged the still-purple skewer the opposite direction through the purple lines. Here's the finished spread.

I like it! It reminds me a lot of this piece, but when I look at them side-by-side, they're quite different. Adding paint to paper using "anything but a paintbrush" was a lot of fun and definitely something I'd like to explore further. 

Finger Painting Pineapple

Until yesterday, I had never done an entire painting using just my fingers. Well, maybe I did when I was a toddler. I don't remember. I've done a lot of fingerprint and handprint art over the years, but with those I used a brush at some point, decorated the painted part with pens, or otherwise did something other than just painting with my fingers.  

I challenged myself to paint a pineapple in my sketchbook (next to the gouache strawberries) using nothing but my fingers. Actually, I put a few more restrictions on myself. Because I would be taking process photos, I needed one hand to stay paint-free so I didn't mess up my camera. I also wanted to finish the painting without interruption, which meant I couldn't get up to wash my hands, nor could I set the project aside to let a layer dry. I intentionally didn't put anything nearby on which I could wipe my hands. I did allow myself to do a rough pencil sketch before I started. 

What you see here is a pineapple painted wet-on-wet with the four fingers of my left hand, which I didn't clean or wipe even when changing colors. It was a challenge, which was the whole point. 

Finger Painting Pineapple

Materials: 

• sketchbook
• acrylic paint (green, yellow, brown, and turquoise)

Steps: 

I used my pinky finger and some green paint to draw diagonal lines onto the pineapple, first one direction and then the other. This was really difficult. I don't have good pinky control (possibly due to the fact that I've broken that finger a couple of times, or maybe I just have a weak pinky). Fortunately, most of this would be covered, so it didn't really matter. 

 

I switched to my index finger for the crown. I made swooping motions in green from the base outward, which is what you see below.

I added a bit of brown to the crown, trying to get some shadow. After that, I dunked my index finger into the turquoise in a surprisingly effective attempt to dilute the green and the brown already on my finger. Then I painted the background. It was really hard getting between the leaves of the crown; quite a few got covered, as you can see. It was also hard to get right up to the edge of the paper without getting any paint on the strawberry side. I did my best, but had to mop up small mistake with my ring finger. 

I mixed a little bit of brown into the yellow (yes, with my finger) and stamped fingerprints into each of the white gaps between the original green lines. Then I dipped into plain yellow and re-stamped the areas in the upper right to add a subtle highlight. I touched up the crown with my pinky finger, which actually worked better than my index finger had. I mixed a small amount of yellow into the green to add some highlights on the left. 

The last step was (finally) washing my hands. This was such a fun challenge and definitely something I'd like to try again. 

Fingerpaint Watermelon Paper Plate Wreath

Summer isn't over yet! If you're not quite ready to leap into fall, here's a fingerpaint craft that celebrates the warm weather and long summer days. 

Fingerpaint Watermelon Paper Plate Wreath

Materials:

• two paper plates
• Folk Art acrylic paint (red, white, green, black)
• scissors
• glue
• ribbon

Steps:

Use your fingers to smear red paint in the center of one of the paper plates. Without cleaning your fingers, add a band of white paint around the edge of the red. It will mix slightly and give you pink. Wipe your fingers, then add green around the outside of the plate. When the red is dry, make fingerprints of black randomly in the red section. 

When the paint is completely dry, cut the plate in half. Then cut each half in half, and each half in half again, forming 8 wedges. Cut out the center of the second plate to make the base for your wreath. 

Arrange the watermelon wedges so that they cover the wreath. Glue them in place. 

Add a ribbon to make a hanger, then display your wreath!

How fun would this be to make at a watermelon-themed party? I totally want to plan one!