Discovering the Joy in Abstract Mark Making

Image: Artwork of Abstract marks

Art is a wonderful way to express ourselves, and abstract mark making is one of the most freeing forms of creative expression. But what exactly is abstract mark making?

What is Abstract Mark Making?

Abstract mark making involves creating shapes, lines, and textures without a specific plan or outcome in mind. Let your hands move freely and allow your intuition to take the lead. There are no rules or limitations—just pure, unfiltered expression.

Why Try Abstract Mark Making?

1. Stress Relief: The act of making marks can be incredibly soothing and meditative. Why, though? Well, it’s sensory-based art making  which involves engaging multiple senses, such as touch, sight, and sometimes even sound. This multisensory engagement can help to ground individuals in the present moment, providing a calming effect similar to mindfulness practices. Less thinking, more being.

2. Freedom of Expression: With abstract mark making, you don't need to worry about the final result. It's all about the process and enjoying what you are doing. That can mean enjoying making repetitive marks, big gesture movements, the sounds of the materials or the surprise of not knowing what might arrive on the paper. Mark making is its own kind of language that doesn’t require being translated to be received by the viewer.

Boost Creativity: You won’t discover anything new by doing the same old things. That’s why experimenting with different marks and materials can spark new ideas and lead you down new creative pathways.

How to Get Started

There are so many ways to make marks, this blog specifically focuses on non-traditional mark making tools.

1. Gather Your Mark Making Materials: Almost anything can make a mark! Start at home; dig through your kitchen drawers, recycle bins for things with pointing ends, textures or shapes (toilet rolls, forks, corrugated cardboard…) Consider safety, e.g. be careful of sharp objects. Take a walk through your local neighbourhood and look for sticks, leaves, flowers that are ready to leave (don’t take nature items that are not in abundance).

Image: Selection of non-traditional mark making tools;

2. Gather your mediums: Inks, watered down paint, liquid watercolour. They are bold in colour/pigment, will last a long time and are easy to clean up. Check out the end of this blog for my favourite brands of ink and where to find them.

If you can’t find any of those you can also try making your own dye from spices and berries in your kitchen. Here’s a quick video I made about that:

Making ink or dye from household items

3. Choose Your Surface*: Paper, canvas or cardboard as some starting ideas. Depedning on your medium it will react differently with your surface chose. I like reusing supermarket paper bags. Experiment with scale i.e. choosing a large sized paper can really give you a sense of freedom and playfulness. 

*The term surface refers to the object you place your abstract marks on eg canvas, paper etc.

4. Start Making Marks: Begin with simple lines, dots, or shapes. Let your hand move freely without overthinking. Mark making with sticks allow you to step back and get distance from your mark making surface. They also allow for bigger gestural movements.

5. Experiment: Try different tools and techniques. Use varying pressure, change the angle, and see what interesting marks you can create. Play with speed (fast/flow), put on some music and see you can respond to what you hear through marks.

Experimenting with large scale mark making

Tips for Enjoying the Process

• Embrace Imperfection: There’s no right or wrong in abstract mark making, but judgments always arise when we enter in art making. I like to remind workshop and art therapy participants that part of the experience is practice noticing these judgments and be friendly to yourself.

• Take Your Time: Allow yourself to get lost in the process. There's no rush to finish.

• Reflect: After a session, take a moment to look at your work. Notice how it makes you feel and what new ideas it might inspire.

• Be prepared for mess: Making a bit of a mess is part of the process, so try not to let that stop you from having a go. Put a drop sheet under your work space and have a damp cloth nearby ready to remove and runaway splashes. Wear an apron or clothes you don’t mind getting ink on. Most ink is permanent, particulary if it is left to soak in and dry on textiles. So just be mindful when you set up your creative space.

What to do with the artworks

First off, enjoy them! Looking at abstract marks can be so interesting because they evoke a wide range of emotions and allow for personal interpretation. The dynamic forms, colours, and textures offer visual stimulation and invite viewers to use their imagination; you might see things you recognise like symbols, imagery, recall memories or you may experience an emotional response when looking at them. So put them on your walls and enjoy revisiting them. Alternatively, turn your artworks into cards, wrapping paper, book covers or use them for collaging materials. Don’t forget we are living in the age of digitisation, you might digitise your works and share them online or turn them into printed materials (fabric, tshirts, postcards…)

Where to buy inks:

1. Eckersley's: One of Australia's largest art supply stores, offering a variety of acrylic inks online and in-store.

2. Officeworks: Sells art supplies, including acrylic inks, both online and in their physical stores.

3. Riot Art & Craft: An Australian retailer specializing in art supplies with an online store and various locations across the country.

4. Art Shed Online: An Australian online art supply store with a range of acrylic inks.

My favourite inks for this activity:

Acyrlic ink! Acrylic inks are water-based and composed of pigment particles. They are brightly colored, highly expressive, lightfast, and very flowy. You’ll find this product at online stores in the drawing section or it will be called drawing ink. You can also use alcohol based inks but they do require working in an ventilated environment due to hazardous fumes. Unlike acyrlic based inks, you can’t use water to dissolve or blend them, instead you need to us Isopropyl alcohol. Alcohol based inks are beautiful to work with but mt preference is acrylic inks for this kind of activity. My favourite brand to use is Chromacryl Water proof Drawing Ink.

Final Thoughts

Abstract mark making is also a great practice for when you are feeling stuck creatively as you don’t need to think about what you are doing, rather you are being present for what is unfolding.

About me and Mark and Movement

Hi, I’m Mary-Helen! I’m a Transpersonal Art Therapist and Artist. I help people reclaim joy through creativity. I facilitate creative workshops and groups, online and in-person.

I list all my online creative workshops on my Eventbrite. Follow my page and you’ll be notified when new offerings are announced.

Thanks for reading my blog! If you have any questions feel free to reach out.

Mary-Helen Daly