Incidental Art

I find it daunting to have expectations for a new artwork, especially with the added pressure of having to sell it later.

Something that brings me a lot of inspiration is the involvement of my nieces and nephews in my artistic exploration. We would spread out a few newspapers, bring out cheaper paints, and they would eat through several pages at once, while I carefully and meticulously chipped away at my first painting.

What I have noticed among children, as a professional aunty of six, is that kids like to draw on art. They somehow swiftly and cheekily ruin my drawings by scribbling over them, and they know it would disgruntle me! Over the years, I have learned to protect my art viciously.

As I watched my amazing little gremlins draw their hearts away, without a single sliver of judgement or care, I was awestruck by the untainted creative soul of a child. Their watercolour paintings were piling up, and they were still going at it strongly.

I started to contemplate their works more deeply.These splodges, lines, and scribbles were the rawest form of creativity, uninfluenced by any rules. It felt like the closest we can ever get to the soul’s true, honest, raw creativity.

I thought, in that moment, perhaps I could get back at those little freaks by drawing on their art. They actually do not care if I do. Most of the stuff they make gets gifted to me for being such an awesome aunty.

And so, before me, was not an intimidating blank page, but something already there, for me to work with.. Splatters and sprinkles of paint that were randomised, non-deliberate and pure.

I started drawing my Zaplings on their art.

A Zapling is a little electrical spark, an intuitive and pure little being that every human has inside them. I describe them as little wisps of consciousness who exist in the cyberspace, though their essence and true representation is the child within us. I think I repeat myself a lot on this website, I just assume people won’t read everything (sorry in advance if I’ve already explained to you what Zaplings are.)

It felt so organic to start drawing little Zaplings on the kids’ art. It really reflected what their art meant to me.

I think I enjoyed the idea of hiding behind the explanation that “my nieces and nephews drew the backgrounds,” so I wouldn't need to explain why the lines were a particular way, or why the composition was off. We always give children leniency when it comes to creative work, but older artists are not given that privilege. We are heavily critiqued whether it is by use, or others.

I sifted through the works I considered high-effort and impressive, and put them aside as keepsakes for the kids. Then I separated the aggressively scribbly artworks that their parents would probably throw away, and started painting over them.

It was such a therapeutic experience painting on these artworks that I started to catch up with my nieces’ and nephews’ speed.

These scribbly works somehow had this incredible mana emitting from them, which evoked the child within me and invited me to make art in a light and playful way.

I think I will call this project Incidental Art, as it involves the raw, uninfluenced space of children’s randomised, playful art-making.

Have I ever made incidental art in the past? I thought to myself. Why, I have been doing it the whole time!

Something I had not been very proud of was using disposable paint palettes, because I could not be bothered scraping paint off a wooden or glass palette. But I have kept every single palette I have used.

I pulled out these palettes and realised I had been creating beautiful, randomised works on these disposable palettes this whole time. The irony is that I often end up liking what my palette has created more than the final finished painting.

This is incidental art.

Inspiration swirled out of my brain so cheerfully and purposefully. I cut up the palettes into rectangle pieces and immediately started painting Zaplings on them. I think the Zapling inside me was so excited to create all of this work.