Many of us go into the new year with hopes to be more creative, whether that’s to follow a dream, build a new skill, continue a hobby, or just break up the routine with something relaxing. However, inspiration is not always an easy thing to come by, and creative plans can be stifled by the pressure to come up with something on your own. Today, we’re hoping to alleviate some of that pressure for our creatively-inclined residents of all skill levels with this list of fun things to do with paint!
String Painting
What you’ll need:
Paper
18-inch pieces of string. Any string will work!
Liquid watercolors
Small cups
A book you don’t mind getting paint on
What to do:
Pour your different watercolors into your cups, one cup for each color. Then, put a string in each of the cups, leaving a couple of inches hanging off the side so you can grab it easily.
Then, fold the paper you’re using in half. Put the folded paper in the middle of the book you don’t mind getting paint on.
Pick your first color, and pull the paint-soaked string out of the cup. You want a good amount of the string to be coated in the paint. You may want to use your finger and thumb to scrape off excess paint.
Arrange your string in any configuration on the folded paper, on the inside, and then refold it with the string inside. Placing the string in an interesting shape will help create the effect you want! Then, shut the book with the folded paper inside, and while pressing firmly down on the cover, use your other hand to pull the string through the paper and out. Repeat with as many colors as you’d like, until you’ve created a beautiful piece of string art that satisfies you!
Acrylic Pour
What you’ll need:
Acrylic paints in your preferred colors
An acrylic pouring medium
Cups to put your paints in. Disposable plastic cups might be easiest.
Something to stir
A canvas or paper
Some newspapers or other scrap paper, to go under your canvas and help avoid dripping
What to do:
Start by selecting your colors, with a different cup for each one. Add a small amount of each paint to its own cup, just enough to cover the bottom of the cup. Then, add your acrylic pouring medium. A general rule of thumb for using a pouring medium is 1 part paint to 3 parts pouring medium; you want more of the medium than the paint.
Add the pouring medium to each paint cup, and stir until well mixed. Then, using a clean cup, combine your colors by layering the different paint mixtures on top of each other. Use more of the colors that you want to be more prominent, and you can repeat them in the layers.
Place your canvas upside down on top of the cup with all the different colors in it. Place your hand on the back of the canvas, and your other hand around the cup to hold it steady, and quickly flip them so the canvas is right-side up and the cup is upside down on top of it, and then wait for the paint to pour down onto the canvas!
While it’s dripping down onto the canvas, you can apply a base color like black or white (also mixed with the pouring medium), by pouring it onto the canvas and then spreading it across the canvas, around your upside down cup. You can do this with a palette knife, but if you don’t have one, a regular plastic knife works just fine.
Finally, either drag your upside down cup across the canvas to spread the colored paint, or lift it up and allow it to flow. You can tilt the canvas in different directions to allow it to fully cover the canvas. You can use different tools to lift up the colors and expose different layers, or move the paint’s direction to create all kinds of cool effects.
Then, just let it dry, and you have a beautiful acrylic pour piece!
Segmented Canvas With Painter’s Tape
What you’ll need:
Paints of any kind, though watercolor is likely to work well for this project.
A canvas
Brushes
Painter’s tape or masking tape
Scissors
What to do:
Use your tape to section off your canvas in the desired way, creating different shapes. Triangles, squares, and rectangles of all different sizes are all good options: the idea is to make shapes in the canvas that can be blocked off, so you’re painting directly inside those marked lines, and thus have individual sections of color in a way you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to, due to the difficulty of painting within such straight lines. You can create interesting visuals, and even create a cool card to give someone.
We hope these ideas have been inspiring in some way, residents!
