what is art anyway?

I love painting with my son, Oliver. He has this awesome method of dunking his brush in the paint, but not really mixing it all together to make that gray mess, (sometimes we get the gray mess, just not right away) and moving a very loaded brush across the table to paper. Inevitably some of the paint falls off the brush. I usually put some plastic or some kind of covering down to avoid major messes and spills. One time I did not and this happened:

Just look at that beautiful little drop. I snapped a quick photo and unfortunately it was a little blurry so you can't fully appreciate the colors in that perfect little drip of paint.

I have to admit that I can be a bit grumbly when I see pinterest projects telling you how to make your own paintings. "Just throw some paint on a canvas or cover it with some tape and paint over it and boom, your very own abstract art!"

Welllllll, don't get mad at me...but that's not abstract art. Abstract art is like Picasso. Taking some components of something real and altering it, perhaps totally. Abstracting it. Non- objective art is art that has zero reference to anything in our world. 

I won't go as far to say the aforementioned projects are NOT art. I don't believe that at all! It's creating something. Everyone has an artist inside, I firmly believe that. I just want to hop up on my soap box for a moment and let you know both abstract and non objective art do require technique and (I hope) artists are intentional with their creations. If you haven't seen Exit Through the Gift Shop  I highly recommend the film. It explores the idea of what is art and intentions behind creating, AND showcases some very cool street artists. 

My non-objective art is typically intentional but involves some happy accidents. I know where I want to start and because my method of painting is typically very fluid, things are constantly changing. I cannot always control the final results because how the paintings look when they are wet often change is they dry. Sometimes I'm happy, but if I'm not I re-work the piece until it looks right to me. And there is a top and a bottom. I know a lot of abstract art looks like it can go any which way. It can't. I promise :-) 

Clearly this paint drop from my four years old brush was not intentional. Wow, was it magical and fun. I tried to recreate it using his "method."

At first it was a hot mess. And while I was creating many hot messes look what little dude did with a drop and a swirl of the brush?! It's like looking into layers of the earth. Mesmerizing. 

While I was still attempting to create unintentional magic (hmmmm maybe that was the problem?)  I dripped paint on my scratched Target place mat. And there it was.

I didn't create the drop on purpose but I did select the colors, take the photograph and created the composition. Unintentional intention. Magic.

Here are two more attempts. 

There is a lot of freedom in flinging your child's craft paint around. I encourage you to watch what children do and let yourself go. Who knows what you might create...