Technology solutions need to solve problems in order to be successful. So many gadgets and gizmos are solutions looking for problems. It’s quite rare for me to come across a solution that shows me I had a problem I didn’t even know I had. I’m happy to admit that this has happened in the last couple of days.

I downloaded the Brushes app onto my iPod Touch on a whim. I’m always interested in seeing what this beautiful piece of equipment can do- currently all it does is play music and show Ted Talks, and it has a slide rule app on it as well, so I can ask students whether they know what that is (the answer is usually ‘no’).

To my surprise, the Brushes app actually allows me to finger paint better than in real life, without the mess. And it does it anywhere, without wires or noise or any other fuss. As the screen is backlit, I can also paint in bed, before I fall asleep. Well, I didn’t know I needed to finger paint in bed, and truth be told, I don’t. But it’s been a lot of fun.

Finger painted lobster

I know I’m no artist, but I have to admit I’m surprised what’s possible on the ipod’s little screen, thanks to the two-finger ‘pinch’ zoom feature that allows you to work on the details.

But the real surprise was the ability to use the Brushes Viewer to create a movie of the painting process:

Now you can see how I created the painting, and if you were so inclined, you could work out all the artistic(!) decisions I had to make in order to arrive at the final result. (In case you wonder, Brushes allows you to use a dropper tool to pick up any colour on the canvas. I figured out what colour I wanted for the antennae, but realised that I needed to do them last. So I put a red squiggle down, finished the painting, picked up the red again, and painted the antennae.)

Now I’m imagining I’m an art teacher. Wouldn’t it be nice to have students paint without mess, use technology that has near instant startup (no log in or application startup waiting times), automatic saving, easy publishing, and keep a record of every brush stroke they made so that I know how they created a painting? Something that allows them to explore colour and transparency and sequence and form with no ongoing costs? I think those are interesting problems, and I think they’re problems that iPods with Brushes are a solution to.

The only thing I would worry about is whether it’s truly an artistic medium. Is it a genuine means of expression? Is it Art?

Have a look at these, and tell me what you think.

PS: 

I e-mailed Steve Sprang, the author of Brushes, to let him know about this post. Here’s his reply:

“Hi Ed,

Thanks for the nice blog post. I appreciate it!

I think it’s safe to say that it’s art. At least, I think the many artists using Brushes would say that!

Take care,
Steve”

To which I would reply that I’m not sitting on the fence either. Of course it’s art. It was a rhetorical question really, because if it’s art then it’s a tremendous opportunity for schools to introduce a new medium with built in advantages for teaching and assessment. Watching a brushes video tells you far more about a student’s technique far more easily than trying to figure it out from finished work.

Thanks, Steve, for your comments and for a stunningly good app.