Friday 18 September 2009

Wet on Wet Watercolour & Happy Accidents



For our wet on wet work this week I introduced Yellow & Red.
We started with red in the centre & I talked about how red is a bossy colour who likes to dominate & have FUN!
Then along comes Yellow! Yellow likes to play, be friendly & dance around.

Here is a link I found very helpful for the process of writing your own colour stories & talking about colour with children.

I also recently had some great wisdom shared with me regarding wet on wet by a lady called Mel.
Here is what she had to say:

The purpose of the wet-on-wet method is not to create a finished product but to experience the process. To delve into the color. To learn it's nuances. What happens when I put it on heavy here? How about if I put a small bit here and keep spreading it out. How far can I take this on drop of color? Where is the light coming from in my picture? Is there warmth? Is there movement? What is it like to put the smallest bit of paint on our brush and pull it across the page? How about if we put a lot? How can we take away excess paint?

Rather than telling them NOT to paint or draw a picture, help guide them through a deeper experience. These are as much soul exercises as much as they are intellectual and physical.

Keep at it - it will happen. Watch for the shift of understanding and connection in yourself and your children.


I found this helped us today hugely! No-one (much to my great surprise!) tried to paint 'something' they just explored with the colours.

My first grader put down her brush mid-way & stated that she had had enough-she didnt like her work & wanted to start again. Hmm..
I suggested that once I was done with my own painting, I would get out new paper for her. She sat for a while & then picked up her brush again. she finished her work & was happy with it. We talked about 'happy accidents' :)

When we had finished clearing up, I noticed my painting had been splashed with water -effectively lifting some of the colour. "It is pretty, mummy" said Elianna. "A happy accident!"

Elianna's work:



Rose's Work:



My own Work:

7 comments:

Melisa Nielsen said...

Looks like fun! Great job.

Lots of love,

Melisa Nielsen

Brandy said...

" A happy accident" .... love it! I should give this a try with my own brood.

http://minivanlife.wordpress.comsyn

Jolene said...

When working with wet watery paint on paper... have you ever tried sprinkling salt (regular table granulated stuff) over the wet? it absorbs some of the water/colour and makes almost little snowflakes! I used to adore doing this with watercolours. Might be fun to try when you paint some more :)

This site has some pics of what it looks like and how to do it
http://www.nitaleland.com/faq/watercolorfaq.htm

Isn't it fun to create Art with Kids!

MamaWestWind said...

nice to see the process! Thanks

Becca

Richele said...

I was happy to have caught your post from A Peaceful Day's sidebar. I had just been about to dive into the wet-on-wet watercoloring with the children but only had the technical aspects of the process and didn't know anything else. Your article has been so helpful and the paintings are lovely!

Tonya Gunn said...

I am happy to have found your blog as I am also a Christian waldorf-inspired homeschooler.
I look forward to reading more. Thank you for sharing your beautiful paintings.

Sadie from allnaturalme.com said...

Thank you for the inspiration!!