Play

Play, which includes humor, experimentation, gaming and happiness, is something that I try to embody in my day-to-day life, as well as something that likely occurs in all of our art classrooms.  Play is important to the art room because it encourages creativity and imagination and experimentation, which can sometimes be limited by the narrow scope of assignments.  I found the Pink chapter, in particular, to be a refreshing change of pace as far as my personal interests go.  For the sake of this week's assignment, I decided to challenge myself by using a material that I have never been academically trained in, which was watercolor.  The very notion of play means to experiment, to try something new, and to (most of all) have fun, so I decided that it wouldn't really be "playing" if I used something familiar.  While I am not a stranger to watercolor as a medium, I am by no means experienced or trained  in its properties.  I decided to paint a hot air balloon and got to work.  I knew that this experience would be challenging because watercolor has a tendency to be very fluid and difficult to work with, so I did all I could to keep the experience exciting and meant for learning.  Drawing didn't take long since my image was pretty simple.  When I got to the painting, I started with the balloon and saved the background for last.  The balloon wasn't extremely difficult, I just mixed several different colors and used them for different parts of the pattern on the balloon.  The background proved to be a more difficult feat because I was painting quickly and my colors kept bleeding and blending together when I didn't want them to.  Instead of getting upset and frustrated at this, I embraced the fluid, organic nature of the media and decided to try and fix the mistakes.  Overall, the entire experience was fun and heartwarming for me, because I tried my best to remain in a state of positivity and exploration amid frustration.  My painting came out pretty nicely, although there are a few things I would change about my sky if I had more time.  

I have had a few, but not many, "media play days" in my classroom, but maybe not enough.  I find that watching or trying technique alone is not enough to really get to know a certain material.  It is in the experience of attempt and failure that real learning takes place (as it inspires critical thinking such as: this didn't work out because...maybe I should try this instead...what could I do next...).  The experience has inspired me to try out more of these play days with my students, immersing them wholly in pure experimental time.