Friday, September 21, 2012

Action Painting: Oceans Of Bubbles


If you are looking for something fun to do, I highly suggest you try bubble painting. 
  • Get some shallow dishes, different colors of tempera paint, dishwashing liquid, water, spoons, straws and paper.
  • Put two spoonfuls of paint in each dish.
  • Add a spoonful of dishwashing soap, and about a cup of water. 
  • Stir it all up.
  • Stick the end of your straw into this concoction and blow some bubbles. 

When you have a nice little mound of bubbles coming up over the top of your dish, take your paper and lay it down on top of the foamy heap. As the bubbles pop, gently peel your paper away and look at it. You'll find a beautifully delicate pattern, a true work of action painting

Do this about a thousand more times, layering the colors, filling in the corners of the page and generally having yourself a good old time.

When you get tired of that, I give you permission to go a little crazy. Blow bubbles till they spill out of the dish and build up in a giant heap on the table. Use your paper to scoop them up, push them around, or do any other outlandish thing you can think of. Use your straw in any inventive and unorthodox ways you can imagine, too.

And when you are all worn out from this delightful madness, mop up every drop of the mess. Because real artists clean up after themselves, and that is what we are. Real artists.

My students followed these instructions to a T today, and as you can see, we had oceans of bubbles and a world of fun.

P.S. Wanna see how the art turned out? Go here for some lovely samples.


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1 comment:

  1. Hello Diane - I am working on some illustrations for a craft book and would like to use one of your bubble painting images for a texture to go in the background. is that ok? Thanks, Mia

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