It was one of those “what’s the meaning of life” kind of days.  Recent life events had me waxing philosophically and I was looking for deep answers inside my art studio.

Here are the exact words of the muse…and she said them quite forcefully in my head…”Shut up and play.”  She wasn’t into the deeper levels of understanding life that I was pursing…she just wanted me to get may hands busy playing with paint.

I turned on the David Cassidy playlist and took out this old canvas that has been lingering around for ages then followed her advice.  This has been a hot mess of an experimental canvas for a long long time now.

She was right (but don’t tell her I said that).  I was over thinking choices and really I just needed to start making a mess!  Do the circles represent the infinite cycle of creativity?  Did I choose this canvas to work on as a metaphor for my life right now?  Once again, the muse said, “Shut up and play!”

My hands needed to get into the action- and I covered the whole thing with modeling paste.  Clearly, I did not wait for the purple Dylusions paint to dry.

Would yellow go with the vibe of the painting?  Guess what the muse said.  “Shut up and play!”

I followed my impulse and grabbed the yellow.  The paint flew as I made a splattering mess on the canvas and more than a few drops landed on me.

Should I leave it as it is or add more color.  You probably know what the muse said to me…”Shut up and play!”.  Out came the rainbow.

All the sudden the dark turquoise at the bottom became a big wave…not intentionally mind you…but then I started to paint more waves…and I immediately wanted to grab meaning…the rough seas of the soul?

What did the muse say?  “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…”

I kept grasping for meaning so my ornery muse joined in…the circles are the wheels of a Transformer in the middle of transforming…it’s a bunch of jelly beans rolling along the ground…it’s the marbles you’re losing trying to find meaning in the play…

I still haven’t found the meaning of life.  I still haven’t plumbed the depths of my soul today.  I didn’t even finish this canvas.  However, I did play and got lost in creating, so I call it a good day!

If seeing paint drip makes me happy, imagine my joy seeing it explode!  All of my family, even my husband…who you can see make his first art journal page in this video here, wanted to join in on this play!

This definitely falls into the “Act like a Kid” theme for this month’s Let’s Play all about rediscovering the ability to play. Each month I share a specific strategy that helped me recapture the freedom and fun of play.  This month’s theme is act like a kid. You can see more of the Let’s Play series here.

Putting Alka-Seltzer in paint isn’t my idea, it is in all sorts of videos on the internet.  Don’t know who originated it, but they are a genius!  Thank you Linda O’Connor for being the first to introduce me to this fun!

Watch Making colorful papers with exploding paints on YouTube

What is Let’s Play?  It’s all about

Now you’ve seen my play, let’s see yours!  Share what you’re creating with us all in the Facebook group and be inspired by what others are creating! And be sure to leave a comment here to get entered in the monthly $50 Dick Blick gift certificate giveaway!

Here’s what you need for exploding paints

• Paint (the wetter or runnier the paint the faster it pops)
• Film canisters (which you can buy online if you don’t have easy access to them)
• Alka-Seltzer tablets broken in half
• Paper to catch the high velocity paint explosions

Safety! We treated these like fireworks, and used common sense precautions that respected the physics of the pressure that builds up in the canisters.  Have plenty of open space, stand back and don’t point a loaded one at anyone.

We filled up all the containers with paint first.  We found the containers about a quarter of the way full had the best color explosions.  Also, if a paint was on the thicker side, we mixed in a touch of water at this stage.  The more liquid, the faster the Alka-Seltzer fizzes.

I have seen videos online with the caps up and the caps down.  We tried it both ways in the video, and I have to say, I love the splatters of the upside down ones the best.

For the canisters where we put them lid up, it can easily fall over on it’s side, just spilling paint in a blob.  A bit of tape on the bottom of the canister kept them from tipping over.

For the canisters where we put the lid down, we did nothing to it, just put it top down on the paper.

No matter which way we put them, they had power.  The lids and canisters had some serious height to them.

There is a lot of paint on here, so it took it quite a while to fully dry, but now I have giant sheets of paper that can be cut up and used for anything mixed media!

When playing with the rainbow, even cleaning up can be colorful!

Now you’ve seen my play, let’s see yours!  Share what you’re creating with us all in the Facebook group and be inspired by what others are creating! And be sure to leave a comment here to get entered in the monthly $50 gift certificate giveaway!

Want to see more Let’s Play videos? You can find all the weekly posts here.

Sharing your play:   I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating!  We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook?  I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.

Monthly giveaways:  Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org.  Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com?  Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, September 4th at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog the following Monday.

Congrats to Kristiina, last month’s winner!