Snap Painting: Not Killed, But Tamed

We've been experimenting with "snap painting" since last December. It's become my white whale, in a way, a creature that many have called mythological, but which I've nevertheless relentlessly pursued with my crew of children for nearly a year. There have indeed been times when I felt that we'd even suffer the fate of the Pequod, all but Ishmael perishing in the quest to finally track down that elusive demon of the deep.

It begins with an easel wrapped in canvas, which is in turn wrapped by a Chinese jump rope,

which is essentially a long rubber band. To that I tied the toe part from nylon hose, which 

was filled with wadded up hosiery. You could fill it with a sock or pretty much anything

that absorbs a little paint. What I like about the hosiery is that it can be easily rinsed out, 

while not becoming too heavy, nor does it grow mold if stored away damp.

Oh, but no. No, no, no. I'm pleased to reveal that it doesn't end like that. 

When we tried making medium sized snap paintings and experienced frustration, then tried them super sized, which leading to ennui, I can imagine that you might have anticipated the worst. Our small sized effort came so heart-breakingly close, so I'll understand if you might have expected a tragic ending (albeit one vibrating with the resonance of universal lessons learned).

The idea is to dip the hosiery wad in paint, pull back the band, then let 'er rip. Snap! We

had latex gloves available for kids who didn't want to have messy hands.

You might have even followed along as my amazing blogging colleagues Sherry and Donna creatively pursued the same animal (snap painting, mini-snap painting) off the shores of Oz, wrestling the beast into a kind of stalemate.

But I'm here to say, the whale has been captured right here on the shores of Lake Union! 

She was just a lot bigger than I'd thought, but at least you won't take a face full of paint spray with each snap . . . Unless you stand too close.

This . . .

. . . is . . .

. . . fun!

And thus the whale was not killed, but tamed.

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