One of the issues when creating any piece of art, but particularly with watercolor painting, is how to salvage a painting or make something out of a problem when you make a “mistake” – especially with elementary students You have spent all kinds of time and energy making your masterpiece and you can’t throw it away! This is especially true in an art class where you have a minimal amount of time to complete your project and limited funds for supplies.
It can be hard to loosen up a little and “let go” of what you perceive as a huge eyesore in your work or to look at it a little differently and discover something new and interesting. This is what artists often refer to as “Happy Accidents”. Students not only had great fun, but also learned to ” hide” a little something inside that fun (or accident) “Where’s Waldo” style.
This project also reinforces the principles of color and mixing primary colors in different strengths to make other colors. It also reinforces the “mud” factor… too much paint only makes “mud”. I like doing this project in 4th grade because they are just old enough to be respectful and careful of the supplies we use that are very tempting in other grades. They aren’t quite “cool” enought to go crazy yet, either. (-:
We used watercolor paper squares, straws and primary colors of liquid watercolor (I like Blick Art for brilliant colors) I put in a little squirt/dropper bottle. I also give each student a good length of paper towel.
After blowing to our heart’s content … we got some wonderful results and the students are soooo excited about all the items they “find/create” in the art. The color blending is awesome too! They are beautiful mounted on black paper and put on the wall.
CreARTive Sparks & Artful Thoughts 