Like Bob Ross, but not requiring fine motor skills or oil paint
November 8, 2022 10:30 AM   Subscribe

Can you recommend a video series to guide a new painter with fine motor deficits through simple techniques using large brushes or hands and water-based paints?

A friend is experiencing motor deficits with her right (dominant) hand from a brain tumor. She can still move her arm and hold objects to some extent, but fine motor control with that hand is beyond her. She was an avid knitter and beadworker, but trying to adapt those crafts to her new limitations is too frustrating.

She's interested in trying painting but feels overwhelmed with options. She can hold a large brush and make sweeping gestures, but just getting some paints and playing with them feels like too high a bar. She would like a gentle guided video, a la Bob Ross, but that level of detail seems like too much, and she'd prefer water-based paints for easy cleanup.

Appreciate any suggestions. Also appreciate any other ideas about how to make painting more accessible for my friend. Thank you!
posted by ottereroticist to Media & Arts (6 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would recommend Crayola kids' paints to start - they're inexpensive and genuinely, truly washable.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 10:35 AM on November 8, 2022


Maybe along with a mahlstick, a bridge to support her hand off the paper.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:42 AM on November 8, 2022


The Buddha Board is a pretty cool water based reusable fun gift. You can practice making marks to your heart's content with a bamboo brush, and it dries away.
posted by coevals at 11:02 AM on November 8, 2022 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Hi! I'm a beginner watercolorist who had really shaky hands until August due to some medication. Mostly I just like to sit and paint washes and leaves! But I really enjoy just playing with color on the page, watching it move and change. It's good for the soul.

I really like this set of beginner watercolor drills on YouTube by watercolorist Emma Jane Lefebvre. Great practice for connection and hand control, and also a nice introduction to watercolor methods. She also has several other beginner videos that are very good. Another youtuber I enjoy is Shayda Campbell, whose practice videos are a little more advanced but may be a good option in the future. She has this lovely, soft voice so she's delightful even when you're not painting along.

You can start pretty inexpensively even with nicer supplies. Places like Michaels often have supplies ranked by learning level, so you can grab a ROUND brush in a beginner or intermediate brand, it'll cost about $10 or so? Better with a coupon. A size 12 round is pretty large but I bet a bamboo brush would be a great option, too. I find a size 8 round super easy to work with now. Canson watercolor papers are easy to find and good quality for the price. I started with an intermediate paint set (I use the tubes) but after a couple of months quickly developed my own palette with just a handful of colors I loved from higher quality brands, lots of moody blues and grays and greens!
posted by mochapickle at 11:08 AM on November 8, 2022 [5 favorites]


Your friend might enjoy flow acrylic painting, in which, at its simplest, colors are layered in a cup, poured onto the canvas and then sloshed around into pleasing abstract designs. There are probably a dozen variations on this basic idea--more if you count the different effects caused by varying paint varieties, tools (hair dryers, like those used in Dutch Pours made by Rinske Douna, among others, make amazing flowers!), mixing methods, and additives-- and the techniques really do result in completely different outcomes that don't depend on dexterity. Quite a few artists operate youtube channels. She might start by checking out a technique compilation video, like this one, to see what approach, if any, resonates.
posted by carmicha at 11:43 AM on November 8, 2022 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I love this youtube video about abstract painting with acrylics. I've used several of these techniques. I have a tremor in my dominant hand and find that starting abstractly, and giving myself time to warm up (i.e., doing a few paintings that I don't expect to come out nicely so my hand can remember what it's supposed to do with a paintbrush) are key elements to having a good time with what I want to paint.

I also definitely recommend getting cheap canvases that are pre-stretched to paint on (like the ones that blick sells).
posted by shamash at 5:14 AM on November 10, 2022


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