Glue Multi-Media Paintings

This is a very fun way to produce a process based painting.

I love the texture and dimension it produces!

 I begin with a canvas that the children have previously painted.  These canvases were painted with red, yellow, and orange paints.

What you need:

• glue
• liquid watercolors or food coloring (these will keep the glue transparent as it dries)
• plastic "stir pots"
• popsicle stick to stir the mixture
• assorted materials to stir into the pot (beads, yarn, little tiles, buttons, pieces of paper, etc.)
• plastic table cloth to protect your table (I buy them on sale)

The best part of this project is that the children mix up a brew of paint, glue and stuff.  I let the children squeeze their glue into the pot, I let them squeeze the paint, and add whatever they want from the buffet of materials.  Ooo so fun!! 

 The children LOVE making their own concoctions.  Pure bliss.

When the pot is ready - it is dumped onto the canvas.

 The mixtures are drizzled, dumped, swirled and applied in all sorts of ways.  It was so interesting to see one of my students discover how she could create swirls of orange on top of the yellow.  Another student added a bit of water to his mixture to see how it changed his mixture.

Let the painting dry flat.  It will take up to three days.

 Display!

It adds a lovely bit of color to the corner.

Flower Study

One of the last big projects I did with the children this year was a flower study.  We looked at the work of Georgia O'Keefe and how she painted her flowers to fill the entire canvas.  We noted three things that Georgia O'Keefe did:

     She painted the flowers to the edges of the canvas.
     She used just 3 to 4 main colors on the flower paintings.
     She painted a simple background.

FLOWER STUDY1
The main objective was to get the children to draw huge flowers.  I stressed that their flowers needed to touch each side of the paper.

 Drew the flower with pencil and traced it in a sharpie pen.  (Watercolor paper)

 I gave the children three colors - either a cool palette (blue, green and purple) or a warm palette (red, orange and yellow).  I simply cut the colors off the strip.

FLOWER STUDY 2
For this second study - we moved from watercolor to tempera paints.  The drawing was the same - but no sharpie!  I used a heavy cardstock paper and cheap foam brushes from Michaels.  Again - I put out a cool and warm palette.

I used a foam plate for the paint - perfect with three sections.

We finished with painting flowers on canvases using acrylics.  Unfortunately, I failed to take photos!!  But the end results were beautiful.  You can buy panel canvases from Dick Blick very reasonably and I used the dollar acrylic paint from Michaels.  Here is a peek at a photo a parent took:

Beautiful Pinwheels

As a part of our weather unit, we made watercolor pinwheels.  Pinwheels are so easy to make and so beautiful to see in the wind.  There are several methods of attaching the pinwheel - the method of I am sharing is from my colleague, Mrs. Flynn.  It works!

What you will need:

• copy of the pinwheel pattern on white cardstock
• pencils
• straight pins with round plastic heads
• watercolors
• masking tape or duck tape

Click here to download pattern.

 STEP ONE:  Watercolor your pinwheel pattern.  Watercolor both sides.  Let dry.

STEP TWO: (for teachers) Cut the pinwheel out and cut a long black slits.

 STEP THREE:  Using a straight pin with a plastic ball top, push four alternating corners through the pin.  You do not have to be exact.  I just gather up those corners on the pin.

 Here my corners are gathered!

 STEP FOUR:  With corners still gathered push pin through the silver part of the pencil.  Yup.  It will go through with a nice push!  Leave enough of the pin on the "pinwheel" side for spinning. 

STEP FIVE:  Bend the end of the pin down.

 STEP SIX:  Wrap the silver part of the pencil (with the pin bent) with masking tape or duck tape.

 Look how cute it is!

STEP SEVEN:  Go outside and watch it spin in the wind!

Watercolor Magic - Waxed Paper!

 

What you will need:  watercolor paper, watercolors, brushes and waxed paper.

Step One: Place a watercolor wash on the paper.

Step Two: While paint is still wet, cover it with the wax paper.  Experiment with moving the wax paper to create texture. 

Step Three:  Remove waxed paper after painting has dried.

Watercolor Magic - Salt!

 

Materials Needed:  watercolor paper, watercolors, brushes, and table salt.  You can use a variety of salts to see the effects like fresh ground salt, rock salt and coarse sea salt.

Step One: Apply a wash of color over the paper surface.

Step Two:  Sprinkle salt into the wet paint and let it dry completely.

Step Three: Brush off the salt.

Watercolor Magic - Rice!

Materials:  Rice, watercolor paper, watercolors.

Step One:  Lay a watercolor wash on the paper surface.

Step Two: While paint is still wet, drop rice on the paint and leave it there until dry. 

Step Three:  Brush off the rice.

Detail of texture

Watercolor Magic - Plastic Wrap!

Every winter I provide a special painted paper opportunity in my classroom.  During free choice the children can create the featured painted paper.  They make one for the community box and one for themselves.  We use a variety of colors and textures.  I am going to start with watercolor and share my favorites!  Everyday this week I will post a new technique!

What you will need:  plastic wrap, watercolor, watercolor paper, medium brush.  It is important to purchase actual watercolor paper.  Student grade is fine.  I also purchase pads of watercolor paper at Michael's on sale or with a coupon.  These techniques will not work on construction paper.  I like Stockmar Paints and the liquid concentrated watercolor sets.  The quality of color pigment is important as well.  I feel children deserve quality art supplies for a quality experience.

Step One:  Put a wash of color over the entire paper.  Do this quickly so it stays wet.

Step Two:  Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the wet wash.  Squish the plastic to form creases.

  Leave the plastic wrap on top of the paint until it dries.

Step Three:  Pull off plastic wrap!

Close-up of some of the textures created.

Experiment with different colors and concentrations of pigment to see what kind of effects can be created!