The Art of Love: 5 Sexy Art Games
Of all the wonderful functions art serves, I’d count bringing people together among the most important. Yes--art can act as a gateway between strangers,
but it can also bring you closer to someone you already love. Instead of going to dinner and a movie for the billionth time, grab your partner and get in touch with your creative side. Whether you two collaborate or take turns being in control, unleashing your artistic self can show you parts of your partner you’ve never seen (figuratively + literally).
Exquisite Corpse:
Working together in a relationship can be challenging, but under the right conditions, it can also be hilarious. An exquisite corpse is a collaboration between two or more people who take turns adding to a composition to create a single project (for a lyrical representation, listen to: ‘Exquisite Corpse’ from Watsky’s x Infinity album). You can set a timer for sixty seconds and begin to draw whatever comes to mind: a face, tree, abstract shape—and at the end of sixty seconds your partner will add on to it. The exercise can go on for ten minutes, twenty, or however it takes for you both to walk away with a project you can appreciate.
Snapchat Collage:
This rec comes Kayla tested and approved. The Face Swap Snapchat filter has brought me more joy than I should probably admit. Aside from sending Face Swap snaps to the SO to remind him just how adorable and fun I am, I keep them stored on my phone because they’re pretty amusing. The best combo came from pictures I’d taken of him with the runny makeup filter since he doesn’t let me put makeup on him (TBC). I cried I laughed so hard when I showed him. I joked that I wanted these pictures blown up and hung on the wall because they were MAGNIFICENT. Ever the smartass, when I unwrapped my one year anniversary present from him, I saw four panels of pictures on a canvas. No gift could have been more perfect.
Kiss + Makeup:
Unfortunately, this is one activity I’ve yet to try with my SO, though I assure you it’s not for lack of trying. Lay out an assortment of makeup and brushes and flex your beauty skills. The possibilities are endless. Replicate a look from a beauty guru like Kasia, come up with an original idea, or if your partner wears makeup on the regular, see if you can make them look equally as good as they make themselves look daily. Bonus points awarded for documenting the process via photographic evidence, and bonus BONUS points for going out on a public date night wearing your new looks.
Be Sketchy:
Super Bowl 50: my Carolina Panthers FINALLY made it (no need to discuss this past season—yikes), so I actually had a team to pull for on the biggest night in football. But things got so ugly by the start of the fourth quarter, we (I) felt forced to turn off the t.v. My guy broke out his old Batman videogame, and sorry if this loses me cool gf points, but I’ll never be into video games. I grabbed my journal and started sketching for the first time since high school. I attempted to replicate my SO’s face using the delicate technique I’d learned in art class a million years ago. Half an hour later he was mock offended by my rendering of him that despite my best effort, made him look like a cross between a thousand-year-old corpse and a blob fish. He got revenge by picking up the pen and drawing me. His approach was significantly less earnest and proved to grossly exaggerate some of his erm—favorite bodily features. Sketching one another is a super simple, cheap way to kill some time. Despite the L my team took, I ended the night laughing.
Body Painting:
For some good not-so-clean fun, break out the body paint. For this project, you’ll need newspaper to cover the floor, body paint, brushes/sponges (or just your fingers—no judgement), water, and plenty of washcloths and towels. As with Kiss + Makeup, you have to opportunity to be as creative as you want or take as much direction as you need. Maybe you want to replicate Starry Night using your partner as a canvas, pull up images of work from Kyera Dalesandro or other body paint artists to replicate, or come up with something totally original. Whether you discover that your partner’s more ticklish than you’d imagined or find some unexpected freckles, it’s certain to be a night full of laughs and learning. For extra fun, buy some delicious scented body scrub and a couple of loofahs to help each other wash off those hard to reach places once your project is complete.
