I always start a marbling session with a couple of practice pieces. I'm testing the bath to see what it's doing and how the paints behave on it. But I'm also stretching my marbling muscles ~ like a singer who does vocal warm ups. Marbling is more physically demanding than most people realize and there are certain techniques that require superb hand-eye coordination so I want my body and my mind to be at the same place when I start working on the real stuff.
The thing is...usually these practice pieces end up being something really good. Something that actually makes me pause and go, "Oh, wow! That turned out great!" even though I'm not trying to do something good. I don't even think that hard about what colors I use, just grabbing the four of five closest to me and running with it.
Today's practice piece is no exception. I love it. I love the colors and how the design turned out. I guess I'm more conscious about my practice pieces than I realize...and that perhaps eight years of marbling experience coupled with not having any expectations from these first few pieces really frees up the creative mojo. And that's when magic slips in.