BOUNTIFUL – In some ways, creativity is just the freedom to play.

There’s still a few days left to see Colleen Parker’s Artist of the Month exhibit at Lamplight Gallery, which chronicles several of Parker’s more recent artistic experiments. Running now through Nov. 4, the show is a playful look at what can be done with paint and a little imagination.

Many of the pieces are (or start with) monotypes, which is a type of printmaking done made by drawing or painting on a smooth, nonabsorbent surface. Some are large scale, such as the glowing, abstractly lovely “Ascent,” while others divide to become the miniature, ocean-evoking panels of “When I Am Old.”

“At my age, I won’t have to make a living from art,” said Parker. “I decided to just have fun.”

Other times, the monotype merely serves as inspiration. in “My Very Own Bird,” one gets cut apart and made into a bird with exotic, oil-slick wings. In “The Gathering,” Parker calls forth hundreds of faces from a black and white monotype.

“I didn’t plan them,” said Parker, who adds that there are still more faces she could draw. “All of these faces just started emerging, and when I saw them I drew them.”

There is also foil art, created by applying paint to foil and then wiping it away. The foil pictures look like metal sculptures reflecting some imaginary sky, and even the paper towels used to wipe up the paint become swirling, dramatic pieces on their own.

Tim Parker, the guest artist of the month, adds to the sense of play by transforming photographs into shimmering, prismatic rainbows that seem like what light would do if it was feeling exuberant. It’s a different set of toys than Colleen Parker is playing with, but the resulting game is just as much fun.

jwardell@davisclipper.com