Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Art log—washi tape resist watercolor paintings

Many afternoons the kids and I can be found clustered around the kitchen table with paints and markers spilling off the edges. Art activities soothe our over-exuberant moods with focused industry. They brighten our gloomy moments with the satisfaction of creating something new. Plus I love having beautiful personal pieces to display. One time I went around and counted how many pieces of original art hang in our home… it was more than 60!

So I thought I’d chronicle some of our winners because I think it’s always inspiring to see what gorgeous pieces kids of all ages can make. Yesterday we welcomed the unofficial start to winter with some snowy scenes. First I taped off trees and other scenery in consultation with my little artists. We gave each painting a horizon line, and we talked about painting below it with mostly cool colors and above it with warm sunset shades. As they applied the liquid watercolors, we sprinkled on kosher salt, to soak up excess paint and add a pretty mottled texture. Once the paintings dried, I brushed off the excess salt (we were quite generous Smile ), removed the tape, and revealed our masterpieces!

This is Luke’s mountain cabin scene and Eleanor’s alpine forest:

lukes      ellas    

Some close-ups of the salt + paint effect:

close    close2

And here they are displayed together in our kitchen:

both

Supplies needed:

-washi tape (mine was from target, you could also use any thin tape that removes cleanly from paper)

-thick paper (Watercolor paper with a lot of texture might allow paint to get under the tape, so if you don’t want that effect a smoother paper would be better. But it also might look pretty to have the colors seeping into the taped area! We used smooth multipurpose paper.)

-liquid watercolors (I bought ours here, the ‘Tropical’ Colorations set of 8)

-kosher salt from the grocery store