Fall Into This Idea for Art (Part 1)

Posted by Kristina | 0 comments

Fall is one of the most perfect seasons as far as I am concerned; I only wish it lasted longer. I love to breathe in the scent of warm soil, slowly decaying leaves, and the myriad of spices begging to be added to purees of pumpkin, squash or apple. How can one spend any amount of time outside and not be inspired to at least attempt some form of art, be it painting, photography or poetry?

When my husband and I taught art lessons, one of our ideas came from all those vegetable displays that are so rampant at this time of year. What a wonderful way to glorify God by portraying or replicating His creation. This is, artistically speaking, the hardest art form for me, so if you also discover that watercolour painting is harder than you first thought, don’t get discouraged. Practice makes perfect, so they say. In any case, you will be trying something new and exposing yourself to new avenues of expression. I hope you will enjoy both the fruits of your labour and the “fruits” of the season, afterward!

What you need: ( some of these materials will not be used until Part 2 )

Watercolour paper, watercolours, water for rinsing brushes, paper towel to blot with, brushes, assorted seasonal gourds, fruits and vegetables, salt (preferable coarse salt), plastic wrap, sponge, pencil, tape, imagination

While watercolour paper is, obviously, ideal, you can experiment with different sorts of papers, keeping in mind that watercolour paper will allow for the best absorption of the colour. If you do not have a watercolour set (no, you do not need to run out and purchase the most expensive tubes of watercolour paints. The “cheap” dollar store watercolour paint sets are perfectly fine for playing with colour)

If you can find a copy of a watercolour for beginners type book at the library, check it out! My personal favourite is: Watercolour for Absolute Beginners, by Bill Whitsett.

What you do:

Ask your child(ren) some questions about watercolour painting, like:

Q. What supplies do you think we need to paint with watercolour?

Q. What kind of brush do we need if we want to paint details?

A. small, thin, round brushes that can hold a point

Q. What kind of brush do we want for painting with watercolour, in general?

A. large round brush

Q. What if we want to paint a large area, like the sky?

A. a flat brush, about 1 inch, for large areas

Q. What are warm and cool colours?

A. Warm colours are yellows and reds. Cool colours are blues and greys.

Q. Why do we need water containers?

A. We need two water containers, one for rinsing and cleaning paint colour from the brush, and one for getting clean water on the brush. This way, our colours don’t end up looking like mud!

Try this:

Paint a picture using only one colour, (monochromatic), but experiment with shading, making some parts of the image darker than others. Things that are in the foreground should be shaded more than those in the background.

Put some watercolour on a small section of paper, perhaps cutting the paper into a 3×5 card, making sure that it is wet enough for salt to be absorbed into the paint, but not so wet that the salt alters the paper. Sprinkle the coarse salt (you can try table salt, but often the result is less than impressive) over the paper. This is an example:

Try sponging on paint, then try painting, but using the sponge to remove some of the paint, trying to allow the sponge to leave a mark in the paint, as only a sponge can do.

Put some watercolour paint on another small card of watercolour paper, then press down on the paper with plastic wrap. Do not smooth the plastic wrap out as though you are coving a dish before putting it in the fridge. Leave it wrinkled and smushed up (is smushed a word?). leave it on for quite a while, “forgetting” about it for a few hours usually ensures a great result! Here is my husband’s example:

Try other ideas you come up with, as a family, and make predictions about what the results might be. Next article I will talk about painting fruits and vegetables. In the mean time, set up a display of one to three fruits or vegetables and begin making a rough sketch of them. You can practice adding shading and depth if you like, thinking about the 7 laws of perspective, but save one sketch that is mainly the outlines, like this:

Kristina is a happily married wife in her eleventh year of homeschooling the flybytheseatofyourpants method. So far her two boys seem intelligible and relatively unscathed. She is an intern Educational Therapist with NILD and in her spare time loves to scrapbook, paint, make linoprints and write novel study guides. In your spare time, check out her blog On Fire at: www.kristinacamp.blogspot.com