Playing with Paint in the Sketchbook: "Anything But a Paintbrush"

Have you heard about the "Anything But a Backpack" spirit days that schools do? The concept is that you bring your stuff to school in any sort of container that is not a backpack. People get super creative, carrying their books around in a suitcase, stroller, laundry basket, wheelbarrow, etc. I would have had great fun with this as a student. Or, for that matter, as a teacher! 

I used the "Anything but a Backpack" concept for this sketchbook painting, which I'm calling "Anything but a Paintbrush."

This all started because there wasn't enough room on my paint shelves for all of the newest bottles of paint I got as a Plaid Creator. In the process of reorganizing, I came across four bottles of Folk Art Acrylic that were 98% empty. It was silly to have nearly empty bottles taking up prime real estate, but I wasn't about to waste them either. So I opened to a clean page in my sketchbook, took the lid off a bottle of paint, and smeared it all around the page. When no more would come out, I banged the bottle on the sketchbook to get the last little bits out, then smeared those around the page with the bottle. 

Light green first, then kelly green, blue, and purple. Four colors, no brushes!

When that was dry, I looked around my desk for other items I could use to add paint to the pages. Bubble wrap added really fun dots to my artwork. 

Next, pink circles using a cardboard tube. 

Orange swipes with an old business card!

White shapes with a Command hook!

Purple lines with a skewer! (No clue why there was a skewer on my desk. It's been awhile since I've cleaned.)

More pink circles, then light blue fingerprints!

One final touch: While the paint was still wet, I dragged the still-purple skewer the opposite direction through the purple lines. Here's the finished spread.

I like it! It reminds me a lot of this piece, but when I look at them side-by-side, they're quite different. Adding paint to paper using "anything but a paintbrush" was a lot of fun and definitely something I'd like to explore further.