Watercolor Techniques #8 Watercolor Splatters

So after a long break, I have put together another watercolor tutorial. In this tutorial you will learn how to make watercolor splatters. This is a lot of fun, even if it is a bit messy. So get out your watercolors and have a little fun.

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For tutorial #8 you will need:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors (tube or cake)
• Assorted brushes
• Cup of water

(If you are reading this via a feed you will most likely need to click through to the post to watch the video.)

Feel free to share any projects you and your children complete using this watercolor technique. I love seeing what you all have done.

You can find my other watercolor tutorials listed in my sidebar.

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*And I still have some Winter Kits left, so be sure to check them out if you haven't already.*

More info here

Watercolor Techniques #7 Texture with Table Salt

Today's video watercolor technique is another interesting texture. This one is made with watercolors and salt. As you can see in the above photo, sprinkling table salt on wet watercolor makes a strange grainy texture. So get out your watercolors and try this with your children. I am sure you will all have a blast.

For tutorial #7 you will need:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors (tube or cake)
• Assorted brushes
• Cup of water
• Table salt

(If you are reading this via a feed you will most likely need to click through to the post to watch the video.)

Feel free to share any projects you and your children complete using this watercolor technique. I love seeing what you all have done.

Watercolor Techniques #6 Texture with Rubbing Alcohol

Today's video watercolor technique is a very fun and interesting experiement with watercolor and rubbing alcohol. As you can see in the above photo, dripping rubbing alcohol on wet watercolor makes a strange bubble-like texture. I am sure you and your children will have lots of fun with this.

For tutorial #6 you will need:
Watercolor paper
Watercolors (tube or cake)
Assorted brushes
Cup of water
Rubbing alcohol
Cotton swab

(If you are reading this via a feed you will most likely need to click through to the post to watch the video.)

Feel free to share any projects you and your children complete using this watercolor technique. I love seeing what you all have done.

Watercolor Techniques #5 Loaded Brush Smooshes

Wow! I am sorry it has taken me so long to post the next watercolor tutorial. I have been seeing quite a few families that have been using my tutorials and I am loving the results. If you want to share your projects with us, feel free to leave links in the comments or email me a photo to put in my sidebar.

This video tutorial is for what I am calling "Loaded Brush Smooshes." This is a type of brush stroke that can be used for making flower petals and whatever else you can think of. (If you are reading this via a feed you will most likely need to click through to the post to watch the video.)

For tutorial #5 you will need:
Watercolor paper
Watercolors (tube or cake)
Assorted brushes (a medium sized one will work best)
Cup of water

Watercolor Color Triangle

I haven't had time to put together another watercolor tutorial to share with you all. I expect to have a new one up on July 28th, when I get back from my camping trip. Here is a little watercolor project I came across online that you can do in the meantime: Color Mixing Triangle.

This is a great experiment in color mixing and demonstrates some of the wonderful blending properties of watercolors. I hope you enjoy and would love to see any watercoloring you and your children may complete using these instructions. Feel free to leave me links in the comments section.

Watercolor Tecniques #4 Wet-on-Wet

This week's watercolor technique explores one of the wonderful properties of watercolors: the ability to run together and blend on a wet page. Make a color wet-on-wet rainbow as you and your little ones discover how stripes of color can blend on a wet paper.

For tutorial #3 you will need:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors (tube or cake)
• Assorted brushes (a large sized one will work best)
• Cup of water
• Paper towel or sponge

Since my last video tutorial was such a hit, I made another one for this week's technique. Enjoy!

Feel free to leave me comments or links to any projects you complete using this tutorial. You can find the other watercolor technique posts listed in my sidebar.

Watercolor Techniques #3 Thick and Thin Lines

This tutorial builds on technique #2 and is again to help increase brush control. The object of this project is to focus on making your brush lines thicker and thinner as you increase and decrease pressure with your brush.

For tutorial #3 you will need:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors (tube or cake)
• Assorted brushes (a medium sized one will work best)
• Cup of water

I had a hard time taking photos of each step so we made a video instead. Hope you enjoy.

Feel free to leave me comments or links to any projects you complete using this tutorial. You can also find techniques 1 and 2 in my sidebar.

Watercolor Techniques #2 Stripes of White

This tutorial is to help increase brush control. The object is to concentrate on the white line you are forming between each stripe. Try not to touch any previous strokes, keep the white lines of unpainted paper unbroken.

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For tutorial #2 you will need:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors (tube or cake)
• Assorted brushes (a medium sized one will work best)
• Cup of water

Stripes of White Technique:

1. Make a squiggly stripe across the width of your paper.

2. Rinse off your brush. Swish it in the water. Look my water turned pink!

3. Make another stripe just above or below your first stripe. Try to make it really close to your first stripe, but leave a little stripe of white between. You are really working on making your stripes close to each other without running together.

4. Rinse your brush in the water. Look now my water is purple! What color is your water?

5. Keep adding stripes above and below your first stripe until your whole paper is filled. How close can you get your lines without them touching? Really work on keeping a small stripe of white between each color. Can you keep the white stripe even?

6. It's okay if some of them run together. I had that happen a few times on mine.

Have fun. You can check out my Watercolor Technique #1 here. I would love to hear about your experience sharing this tutorial with your children.

Watercolor Techniques #1 Flat and Graded Washes

While he is quite young (five or six), he should begin to illustrate his notes freely with brush drawings; he should have a little help at first in mixing colours, in the way of principles, not directions. He should not be told to use now this and now that, but, 'we get purple by mixing and so,' and then he should be left to himself to get the right
tint.

Charlotte Mason Volume 1 Page 55

So I talked before about putting together a series of watercolor tutorials, and I am going to have some time to do this over the summer. I will try to post a new tutorial/lesson each week. They are going to be designed to help you introduce specific watercolor techniques to your children. I would recommend that each week you spend a few minutes sharing these lessons with your children and then give them time to explore on their own. By just giving your child time to work with watercolors on his own he will probably learn a lot about how colors mix when they are wet, how painting on a wet surface is different than a dry one, etc.

As I post new tutorials you will be able to find links to them in my sidebar.

For tutorial #1 you will need:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolors (tube or cake)
• Assorted brushes
• Cup of water

How to make a flat wash:

1. Dip your brush in the water and then load it with paint. 2. Paint a stripe across your paper (near the top). 3. DO NOT dip your brush in the water. Load it again with paint. 4. Paint a stripe directly under the stripe you last painted, overlapping slightly. Repeat until you have a large block of color.

How to make a graded wash:

1. Dip your brush in the water and then load it with paint. 2. Paint a stripe across your paper (near the top). 3. This time, dip your brush into the water and let some of the paint come off of the brush. (Don't swish your brush just dip it in.)

4. Paint a stripe directly under your first stripe. The darker color of the first stripe will blend with the lighter color of the second stripe.

5. Repeat steps three and four until there is no color left on your brush. 6. Experiment with different colors and brush sizes. My purple graded wash was made with a much smaller brush, so there are more intermediate shades of color.

If you and your children use my tutorial, I would love to see your paintings. Feel free to email me photos or leave links in the comments section.

Be sure to check back next week for another watercolor technique tutorial. You can also subscribe to my blog in a reader or by email using the links in my sidebar.

And if you haven't already heard, I am now accepting pre-ordrs for the Hearts and Trees summer kit. It is just what you are looking for to help you add art, nature study and handicrafts to your homeschool.