Tony Armlin began the process with his friends with developmental disabilities trying to engage each participant in a manner specifically designed for them. The idea was to get the individual to use a hand, or a foot, or to make a sound, or to hit a switch in such a way that painting materials would be added to stretched canvas, most often in a random manner.For example, Shawn always talked about pudding, so Tony thought why not get him to create a painting involving pudding? Emily enjoys coffee and coffee mochas, so Tony wondered why not have her create a painting with coffee beans and coffee grounds? Virginia appreciates shaking and rubbing together several sets of her maracas, so Tony burned some holes in a pair of plastic maracas, filled them with paint, and let Virginia shake the paint onto a canvas.
Most of the individuals Tony began to work with had very limited range of motion and poor grasping abilities for holding painting materials. Many of the usual techniques were needed to get them to participate in a collaborative creation, such as Tony using his hand over a client’s hand to apply painting materials.
For those client’s who activated electronic devices by hitting big red button switches Tony thought he could come up with some kind of device used for painting that would be switch operated. He invented a Dripping Paint Platform and used it successfully many times with direct hand switch hitting, and voice activated switching.