Loosen Up: A Mixed Media Art Workshop in Newburyport

"What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon! Loosening Up was so much fun, and seeing what others accomplished in the class was inspiring." Melissa Shea Mills

At The Artists Playground, we've started offering Loosen Up workshops — three-hour sessions held on Saturday afternoons at our Newburyport studio. These workshops are built around one idea: step outside your comfort zone, try something new, and actually have fun doing it.

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As adults, most of us have lost the ability to simply play. The inner critic shows up the moment we pick up a brush. The piece isn't right, we fuss over it, feel frustrated, and

sometimes give up entirely. We stop asking the what ifs:

• What if I cut it up and rearrange the pieces?

• What if I add a different medium, or introduce texture and pattern?

• What if I paint over a section — or the whole canvas — and start again?

• What if I try a different brush, or just add more paint?

The Loosen Up workshops give you permission to ask those questions in a positive, nonjudgmental setting where there are no wrong answers.

What we explored in our January workshop

Our January session gave participants two challenges. The first was painting a still life on the floor using large two- and three-inch brushes attached to long sticks. The second was a series of timed paintings — one, two, five, and ten minutes — using only black and white paint, including a round with the nondominant hand. The results were genuinely phenomenal.

What's coming up: our March 21 workshop

In our next Loosen Up workshop on Saturday, March 21, we'll create, destroy, and re-create pieces of art using mixed media. So often our work — or portions of it — starts to feel too precious to change. In this not-so-precious workshop, we'll practice letting go and discover what new possibilities open up when we stop protecting the work and start playing with it.

We'd love to see you there.

Beverly Heinze-Lacey, Art Teacher at The Artists Playground