"It is in playing, and only in playing, that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.” - D.W. Winnicott

 

 

How is week 1 going for you? I hope that wherever you are in your process, you are having fun! If you aren't sure what to do hopefully these check-ins will help. Below, you'll find inspiration from our community and how our fellow un-slumpers have interpreted this prompt.

 

I like sharing what we're all doing as a way to connect and inspire. This is a welcoming and open space where we can be seen and heard with no fear of judgement or negativity!

 

I know sometimes seeing what others make can trigger the “c” word--comparison--but I'd like for you to consider a few things if you feel this coming on:

All of our creations deserve to be highlighted and I hope by sharing them, we validate how important all of our different perspectives are!

 

And by seeing someone else's work, maybe you'll learn a new method or you'll smile because you totally feel the joy they felt while making their piece or it'll give you a new way to look at things.

“had a lot of fun with this prompt. a little bit of water, some liquid watercolor, a sprinkle of glitter and a tiny funnel to blow the paint around!” - Archna

“I read the word, and did not even look at the suggestions because my gut took me right to this. When I was a kid, board games were the thing. They had great colorful pieces, and we moved from here to there in equally colorful circles and squares. There were rules, of course, but I brought my adult brain into ‘play’ by literally coloring outside the lines. It’s a simple piece, like life was simple once. I smiled all the while creating it.” - Jane

This hand (below, left) is the beginnings of Quinny's piece! “Play” made him want to just be silly and try to sew something different so he is making an oversized stuffed hand! I can't wait to see how this turns out! (I also love how Quinny is using the prompts outside the sketchbook in the medium he'd like to use!)

 

“I immediately knew what to do. I spent hours in my childhood playing with a fish angling toy. It was battery powered and was a pond with moving fishes, the fishes had magnets in their mouth and the game was trying to fish them all.” - Sleepy Chaotic I had one of those toys too and this piece made me smile :)

"The first thing I thought of was Pop-Up Books. I loved them as a kid and I still do. As I’m a few days late to the challenge this is very simple, with just one pop-up and a pull-tap on the fish. I broke free of the sketchbook to this but I hope that is okay😅❤️." - Ida Yes, it's totally OK! :D This challenge is for you, do what you feel inspired to, even if that means going outside of the sketchbook which I love!

"Caran D’Arche Neocolor II, DS Paynes Grey watercolor, Rembrandt Soft Pastels. Spontaneous Movement. Limited Palette. Abstract landscapes/ Landscaped Abstracts." - EB

Do you know what game this is? :) Vanesa used “Neocolor II (water soluble wax crayons) and color pencils as a trial run. So far, paint has been better. 🙃😎😂” And for those of you wondering, this is inspired by Catan and the Cities and Knights expansion! “C&K expansion is so good 👍🏼no one ever goes back.” - Vanesa S (bottom, right)

“Honestly I feel like I play a lot in my art, but I loved a link Olivia included on Surrealism play prompts, so many sounded like fun to play with things in new ways. But had to save most for another time. I had a procedure on my right shoulder last Thursday..and I’m right handed so very limited in mobility right now. Yes this is very bad timing with my move, but it needed to be done. So for now, I took one of the prompts for automatic drawing and drew a continuous black line on the page with my left hand..then used neocolors (which let’s face it is just our grown up version of crayons) in my left hand to color it in. It felt very childlike and playful in a week where I really needed that.” - Melissa M (bottom, left)

The first thing I thought of was bubbles—sticking my little fingers into the soapy liquid to get the wand and blowing bubbles at the park! And also blowing bubbles in my drink—I can’t remember the last time I did that! I’m using soap, acrylic paint, and water. This was so much fun to do and I love how it looked after it dried! I had intended this to be a background so I made a cut out to layer over it. This reminded me of play because I had no plan, doesn’t doing what I feel like it that feels really free and fun! I also love not knowing how something will turn out so getting to unfold it and find out was fun for me too! Art doesn’t have to be perfect, serious, or boring—it can be playful, colorful, imperfect, and fun! Here's a process video of how this page came together. 

A few final notes:
 

If you'd like to be featured in a check-in email, the best way is to email me your photos/descriptions by Monday AM. It can be hard to keep track through social media so I'd appreciate it if you could email me :) If you finish your work after this deadline, please still send it so I can include it in the community photo gallery (I'll be sharing that link next week)!

 

For those of you sharing on Instagram: I noticed recently that sometimes, even when I'm tagged in a post, I don't get notified! (Stories tags seem to be working fine). I don't want to miss anyone's work so if you remember, next time you post and tag me, can you also send me the post in a DM? All you have to do is go to your post, click on the little paper airplane icon, and select me as the recipient. You don't need to add a note, I'll know what it is :) This way I won't miss re-posting. If I did miss anything please let me know!

 

I hope you continue to find fun, whimsy, and play throughout the week! Talk to you on Friday for the second SSUS prompt!