Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes - a Review

I received a really cool book to review a while ago. Titled, "Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes" it's a challenge to the owner to break out of your comfort zone and create MESSES.

I love this concept! One page suggests the idea of dropping blobs of ink on a page and creating a character around it. Another directs you to take a hammer and chalk and pound it into the page until pulverized, just to see the result. Basically, this book is about destroying the pages, simply to realize that art knows no boundaries and creativity exists in everything.

I had thought to have this be a book for Justin whose special situation includes an extreme aversion to any project that isn't clearly outlined. He likes rules and directions with a known outcome and this book was and is the anti-christ of all art projects. He managed to eek out a few pages, but it was honestly painful for the entire family and I needed to give this book a review!!

Evan had been watching the whole process with Justin and The Mess Book. As my frustration with Justin grew, Evan's curiosity became more evident. "Can I do that book if Justin isn't going to?"

I slapped my head when I realized that I had, yet again, forgotten which child I should have targeted!! My little boy who is always making messes but has strayed from spontaneous art would LOVE this book.

And so, we began to Mess it Up:Using WASHABLE markers on the cover was an interesting lesson. From now on, if you hold our Mess book, you will, in fact, become MESSY...

Coffee grounds...
Leftover spaghetti!
Painting without looking...


I totally endorse Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes for anyone looking to remember how to be spontaneous and enjoy the process of art without focusing so much on the outcome.

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