Art Materials Around Your Home (Part Two)

Some other thoughts and ideas

Hi again - welcome to part two of our series of Art Materials that you might just have lying around in your home. Hopefully you have found this after reading part one where we covered a few grounding rules for creative life as well as looking at the 'sticky' situation around fixing things together to think of some outside the box ideas.

Today we are going to continue that vein of thought and look at some more things you can use to get creative that you just might have lying around the house waiting to inspire your next creative burst.

Things to collect and keep- Packaging and

things that come to you in the post can act as a great starting point for making creative work and the best thing is they are usually free :)

Brown paper from parcels is a great alternative to a blank white surface, especially if you get stage fright at a blank page or canvas. Don't worry about removing tape or stamp marks, just make sure you cover up anything with an identifiable features such as address with black sharpie marker, paint or washi tape and you are good to go.

Bubble wrap is also great to keep so you can use it for mark making and painting purposes as well as covering and masking any surface you didn't want to paint if you were using a medium with a greater reach such as a spray or splatter technique. You can use it with kids to paint on and then print dots onto your background too, quick and easy patterning to any picture and in any colour.

Tip: If you are finding your paint is too thin to go over the top of parcel tape or to print well with your bubble wrap then try using less water on your brush, or alternatively if you have any kids PVA to hand it works great to thicken up thin poster paints and dries clear so shouldn't effect the colour too much

Coloured paper might sound obvious, but if you keep it in mind when you get letters and things you might be surprised what you get and what is worth keeping. You can use it as a background to work on and stick things on top of.

Magazines are great resource to have to hand. Did you start collecting paper pieces together last week after our Part One? If so I would also recommend starting a collection of images that you find interesting from magazines. Anyone who has been to my well-being studio sessions at Worcester Arts Workshop knows that I tend to encourage people to look at images and photos in one of three ways.

Objects: that can be a focal point or combined into something more surreal.

Backgrounds: that work well as a space or colour filler

or Textures: again to fill space and add depth to images.

If I'm feeling super organised I keep them all separated out but a folder or wallet full of the things you have collected is a great starting point. I am planning a video and specific blog post on collage in the next week or so so watch this space and get collecting so you can join in :)

Try and keep or use a selection of magazines giving you a variety of different images and themes to choose from. I like to mix natural landscape images with food or parts of people with texture for an element of contrast.

Tip: If you are finding it hard to get motivated to do anything too creative then maybe just sitting and tearing out pages of magazines or collecting magazine images together to work with later is enough. It acts as a great starting point for another time and tearing the magazines to bits is both satisfying and helpful as a sorting and recycling activity.

Sweet wrappers, foil and other visual treats offer a great opportunity for reusing and recycling your materials. With Easter coming up this weekend make sure you think about keeping your egg foils and beautiful jewel coloured wrappers to add another element of luxe and depth to your next creative piece. Paper bags from old style sweet shop kits are nice too with the candy coloured stripes, they are a great way to add an accept or pattern without the use of a ruler. Most of the above can be used without the need for scissors. Try tearing and folding your pieces into shape instead.

You can also use wrapping paper scraps, newspaper images and words, paper doileys even junk-mail you get through the post. Whatever you have to hand. So keep on looking, get a little collection together and maybe you can go back to part one and retry our stapler collage activity and see what you come up with this time around. Or try our second started activity below and see what you come up with using magazine images as a starting point.

Ribbon is also a great thing to keep an eye out for (especially at Easter) any beautiful coloured bows and metallic material could be kept and reused. Scrap ribbon and lace looks beautiful displayed in a glass jar and also means you can see what in there and be inspired into using them. I also tend to keep the thin ribbons that are cut out of the shoulders of your clothing when they aren't needed as they tend to be useful.

Ok, now you are armed with some of the above - here's our second Activity challenge to give a go and see where it takes you.....

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Activity challenge – Art Cards.

What you will need:

• Paper or card (various) you could us any size or colour for the background just bear in mind if its dark it might limit what you can use over the top.

• Pritt stick, glue or a stapler.

• Scissors.

• Magazines

• Basic Art Supplies (sharpies, pastels, crayons or pens)

You can also sit and make up these cards at home in a folder for you or the kids to grab and use when you feel like it. Having some made and ready to go is a great idea and saves time and could be the difference between making and not making.

Prep - Sit at a desk with some object images from magazines gathered in front of you. And take each individual picture and cut it out and glue in onto the piece of card. Each piece of card now is a starting point in its own right and can be used to get started with making something great. These art cards are also a great starting point for teens or kids who don't know how to get started. Try and vary the themes and size of the pieces of backing card accordingly and keep them in an accessible place for all the family.

If you have 'Art Cards' ready to go, grab the one that appeals to you the most at that very moment and finish it off. Looking at the image already present on the cards think about how it makes you feel, what it reminds you of and why it is you might be drawn to that on that day. You can then respond and complete the images as you would like. You can use any art material you like to add to, finish or completely change the scene in-front of you. Add words, textures or even more images if you wanted.

We hope you've enjoyed our two activities so far. Don’t forget you can share your fabulous creations with us on all our social media platforms if you're pleased with what you have made @CreatingSpaceSessions on Facebook and Instagram as well as find us on Pintrest.

Make sure you are subscribed to the website for blog updates and more simple activity challenges and prompts coming your way very soon.

Stay safe and well

Claire