For this exercise, I was tasked with experimenting with unusual tools for making marks.
So, I had a walk around the house and chose the following:
Teabag (as the exercise suggests)
Wiry plastic pot scrubber
Bubble wrap
I started with the scrubber; using watercolour I was able to get some interesting marks, particularly effective spatters. It wasn't the most accurate tool to use, but I did find with some pressure I could make it cover an area well, and with some interesting texture. Next, I used bubble wrap. Conscious of how hard it was to 'draw' with the last implement I cut it into two; one half I rolled up into a sausage shape and used that as a sort of stylus to try and draw with. The other half I used flat and scrunched up to see what kind of patterns I could make.
The teabag was actually the most disappointing. Whether wet or dry, it wasn't really usable. I've used tea in a preview unit to paint with, so I know the 'ink' is useful. However, I don't think the bag is great as an implement. I did try using the teabag with the same watercolour as the other pages, and that actually produced some interesting textural patterns.
I decided to try one more tool and picked up an old round sponge from the bottom of my supply caddy. This proved to be much more versatile, and I was able to do coverage, textures and lines. So I decided to use the sponge for my final image. I decided to paint my small hairdryer. Taking time to build up layers of watercolour, the sponge allowed me to build up tonal values pretty well. I particularly like how I was able to make a catching pattern as a shadow.
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