January 23: Wet on Wet Watercolor Painting

Before we came down with this terrible flu (which kept me away form the computer yesterday--darn I missed a day in January!), we tried our hand at wet on wet watercolor painting. I did some reading about this technique in Heaven on Earth a few months ago and wanted to learn a little bit more about it before experimenting with the kids. I ordered Painting with Children and there it sat on my bookshelf until a rainy January afternoon.
In Heaven on Earth, Sharifa Oppenheimer suggests introducing colors individually and using only primary colors for young children. I tried to only bring out red but the kiddos caught a glimpse of the blue in waiting, a tantrum was ensuing, and this is exactly what I was trying to avoid on this particular afternoon so out came the blue. Because we have already done much painting with tempura paints, neither N nor H was used to the softness of this experience with water and color.
While it took her some time to settle in to the painting, N ultimately enjoyed it, pushing her brush back and forth across the paper, lightly and then with more force. H, who enjoys artistic activities for only a short amount of time, spent more time with his work. The larger size of the brush was good for his small hands. I also purchased some good quality watercolor paper for the venture; the stuff is worth eery penny. I am looking forward to trying this again with the kids this week...