Painting as Process

Painting doesn’t have to mean making a piece of art, or to even paint a specific thing. It can be that if you enjoy it, but the beauty of painting is that you can use any paints you have (or even us something like instant coffee turned into a paste) on whatever surface you like (even card you’re throwing into the recycling) and not have to paint to end up as anything.

By using painting as a tool to be playful, to just make random marks, even just mixing colours, you make it more about the process of doing, mark making, and not what it ends up as.

Layers over layers, crazy squiggles, painting with just one colour, whatever you wish, you can see painting more as a tool for enjoyment and expression rather than a ‘oh shit I’m holding a paintbrush and there’s a blank piece of paper, I better take my time and make something really good’

Same with kids, if they just want to paint they’re hands, not the paper, that’s process. They’re still exploring and expressing. Let yourself try it and see what you can create. It might not be Instagram worthy but it’s not for anyone but you just to process and get the feels out! My eldest is really into just painting marks with no pressure on it to be a work of art, but in doing so makes the best art!

Shots taken from screenshots of videos from my highlights ‘painting as process’ and #drawyourfeelings #makeyourfeelings prompts from the last couple of years

Have a look on there if you’d like to see more ideas for painting your feelings.