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Friday, June 24, 2011

Right Brain, Right Now

In her introduction to Inkblot:  Drip, Splat, and Squish Your Way to Creativity, Margaret Peot says: 

How often have you sat waiting for creativity to strike?...A powerful way to tap into your creativity, using both your intuitive and your analytical halves, is through inkblots....Like snowflakes---and people, too---no two inkblots are alike.  And yet inkblots are always distinctly and inexplicably like the people who make them, despite the seemingly random method we use to generate them.

Providing a carefully marked trail, Peot leads we readers into this unique form of art.  From necessary supplies, to a definition of inkblot, to types of folds, black or colored inks, methods of ink disbursement, types of pressure, and inkblot variations we begin. 

We become acquainted with Inkblot Heroes Victor Hugo, a French author during the middle 1800s,  who used inkblots for inspiration and present day, Stefan G. Bucher, a blown-ink genius, who created one hundred inkblot monsters in one hundred days at his web site, Stefan G. Bucher's Daily Monster, inviting comments from his followers. 

Taking us further down the path techniques for extending our creations by drawing into them using lines and colors add a whole new dimension of fun.  If when spreading out your art no hidden images pop out to you, Peot has generously provided a series of questions to kindle the imagination.

Further into this journey readers are given two additional sets of ten questions guaranteed to stimulate discussion, verbal or written.  She challenges us to see that which is not readily visible; to expand our perception.  To document this artistic adventure proper sketchbooks are recommended along with writing prompts.

Even without the inviting text that instructs and informs, Inkblot:  Drip, Splat, and Squish Your Way to Creativity is a work of art in and of itself with a layout making generous use of white and colored space to frame examples of visuals and narration. 

I urge you to follow this link, InkblotBook's Channel, to view a trailer for the book as well as numerous videos about making your own inkblots.  Now let's see, where did I put that sketchbook?  Are my inks still in that drawer?

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