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SNOWMAN | HOW TO PAINT SNOWMAN [Watercolor Christmas Card]

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6 NEW Watercolor Christmas Card Ideas for Beginners ♡ Maremi's Small Art ♡

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🌲 NEW 2019! The Easiest WATERCOLOR Christmas Cards for Beginners ♡ Maremi's Small Art ♡

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Super Easy Beginners Watercolor Watermelon for Kids ♡ Maremi's Small Art ♡

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I thought it would be fun to show Hads how to paint with watercolors!

So today we're learning how to paint a fall leaf with watercolors. We're not using expensive watercolors either, we're using cheap Crayola paints.

The other art supplies you'll want for this project are:

You don't have to have a blowdryer, but it does speed up the time it'll take to complete this art project. We do speed up parts of the video so you don't have to watch our paint dry. During those sped up times you can pause the video, complete the steps, then unpause the video.

We had so much fun completing this project, we hope you do too. I also hope that you found this video very helpful in learning how to blend and shade with watercolors.

The best part of this project is how different your leafs will look! When you're finished, try painting a different leaf with different colors. Maybe even try painting a purple leaf!

And if you liked this project, you'll like learning how to color a leaf with oil pastels.

Watch How To Paint With Watercolor

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How To Paint With Watercolor (For Kids) - Art For Kids Hub -

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I thought it would be fun to show Hads how to paint with watercolors! So today we're learning how to paint a fall leaf with watercolors. We're not using expensive watercolors either, we're using cheap Crayola paints.

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I’m not an artist - so trust me - if I can make this painting, it has to be pretty easy! I HAD to try this art project just because it’s fun. And cool. And sciency. (My browser is telling me that’s not a real word... haha) This salt and watercolor snowflake art project actually teaches you something, and I LOVE that! I’ll be the first person to raise my hand and admit, ‘I can’t draw or paint’. And trying to make me do either of those two things will make me want to hide my head in embarrassment. (I’m

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Join in with this easy watercolour painting lesson for children to explore five simple watercolour techniques. This is an easy STEAM lesson that combines art and science. It encourages children to explore process art, and to think like a creative scientist and a scientific creative. It's the perfect beginner lesson in watercolours for children.

5 easy watercolour painting lessons for children

Watercolour paints are a very good place to start your journey of exploring painting and process art. They are affordable, readily available, and easy for children of all ages to use.

Most often a collection of different colours are sold together as solid 'cakes' of paint, in a tin or plastic palette, giving you a good selection of colours to try out. This is a handy kit which is easy to take out and about with you if you would like to try painting outdoors.

Watercolour pencils and liquid watercolours are also available. You can use all three on many different kinds of paper but special watercolour paper, which is thick and absorbent, is preferable.

Whichever form you have, watercolour paints are a versatile art material. They are prefect for scientific experiments, where you can combine the paints with different techniques and materials to observe the results. This provides a strong link between the creative art process and the scientific method. If you listen in to your children as they play with the paints, you are likely to hear a lot of scientific language, questioning, and observations taking place.

Let's experiment with five different ways to use watercolour paints. As you paint, encourage your children to play. We are not trying to recreate anything perfect here, we are testing out the different ways the paints can work and thinking about the ways we might use them in the future for our creative projects.

Materials needed

:: watercolour paints

:: watercolour paper

:: jars of water

:: paint brushes

:: salt - in various textures if possible

:: oil pastels or wax crayons

:: cling film / food wrap

:: pencil

:: circle template / stencil - optional

How to use watercolour paints

There are many possibilities! To begin, let's draw out lots of circles on our paper, to give use spaces to try out different colours and ways of painting.

Use a pencil and a stencil - or draw freehand - and cover your page with circles.

Now let's use a variety of different watercolour techniques to fill them all.

Watercolour technique one: wet paint on dry paper

Dip a paint brush into a pot of water and then use your wet brush to pick up the paint from the dry cake. Use it to fill in one of your circles.

Select a few different colours and use them to fill a few more circles.
What happens if you use more, or less, water with the paint? Which colours appeal to you? What happens when you mix two or three colours in the same circle?
Watercolour technique two: wet paint on wet paper

This time, using a clean brush, fill a circle completely with just water - no paint.

Then pick up some colour and drop it on to the wet circle. Use more paint to cover the wet circle.
What happens to the paint when it touches the wet circle?
Try adding more watercolour paints onto your wet circle. How do the colours combine?

Watercolour technique three: watercolour paints with salt

Next, try combining salt with your watercolour paints.

Use a selection of salts if you have them: fine table salt and coarse rock salt.

Paint with your watercolours, and then sprinkle salt on top while the paint is still wet.

Leave it to dry while you fill in more of your circles, and then brush the salt away and see what effect the salt has created.
How has it changed the appearance of your paint? Why do you think that has happened?
What other ways can you think of to test out the combination of paint and salt?

You could experiment with the different textures of salt that you have: see what patterns the fine salt creates and how the coarse salt looks.

Vary the length of time the salt is applied: leave the salt until everything is completely dry on one circle, and leave it for just a little while and then blow it off on another circle.

Change when the salt is applied: put it on when the watercolours are completely wet on one circle, or when they are partially dry in another circle, or almost completely dry on a third circle.
What do you notice about the different circles? Which patterns appeal to you the most? What does each pattern look like and what do they make you think of?
Watercolour technique four: watercolour paints with oil pastels

For our forth experiment, we're combining oil pastels (or wax crayons) with our paints and taking advantage of a particular property they have - the way they resist the watercolour paint.

Begin by using wax crayons to draw out different patterns inside some of your circles. You might try a geometric design, spots, stripes, draw a scene, or freestyle an abstract organic line within the circle.

Then use a paint brush to wash watercolour paint right over the top of your pattern, to fill in the circle. You'll notice the paper absorbs the paint but the wax crayon resists it, giving you a painted background and revealing your wax crayon design.

Watercolour technique five: watercolour paint with cling film

Fill in your final circles with paint, using whichever colours you like.

While the paint is still wet, apply a layer of plastic wrap over it. Allow the wrap to fold and crumple as you gently press it down.

Leave the paint to dry with the plastic film still in place over the top of the paint.

Once dry, peel back the plastic wrap to reveal the pattern on your watercolour circles.

What does your finished work look like? You might even like to use the painting as a background for a landscape drawing, using marker pens to add more details.

Reflection
What have you learned about watercolour paints in this experiment? Which techniques did you like the best? Which techniques do you want to use again, in other creative projects? Are they any other ways of using watercolour paints that you want to try?
Want to do more paint and art explorations? Download your copy of Art Spark here. This kit gives you everything you need to get started with art and build a rich and creative art practice with your children. It includes 30+ inspiring process art projects, famous art, world culture, practical tips, and endless possibilities! See the Art Spark resources here.

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5 easy watercolor painting lessons for children - NurtureStore

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Join in with this easy watercolour painting lesson for children to explore five simple watercolour techniques. This is an easy STEAM lesson that combines art and science. It encourages children to explore process art, and to think like a creative scientist and a scientific creative. It's the perfect beginner lesson in watercolours for [...]

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I love painting with watercolors and so do my kids! These 5 watercolor techniques for kids are some of my favorites and are so easy for kids of all ages, even preschoolers can give these a try. They are easy to use and produce such unique and beautiful results.

All of these techniques can be used as process art ideas, let kids create and experiment with no finished project in mind. Or you can try some of the projects that we have done using these methods. Check out my awesome watercolor painting for kids post for more fun and creative ideas kids will love!

Mixing Watercolor Paint

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We generally use a watercolor pan set when we do our projects. I like the vibrant colors of this brand especially, these paints last a long time and are fairly cost-effective. We have been using this same set for a while, and there is still a lot of paint left.

I know that some people love to use liquid watercolors for their projects, we have not used them before but it's on my list to try. You can also use watercolor tubes in the same way.

Preparing your watercolors is super easy, you need water, a watercolor palette and of course your paints and paintbrushes.

Drop some clean water into your palette for each color you want to mix. Start off with just a small amount of water, you can always add more. Start to add your watercolor to the water in your palette.

I like to keep some scrap paper handy to test out the colors. Most of the time, you want to make your colors a bit darker than you need, they will dry lighter especially if you are using a wet on wet technique.

If you need a really dark color, you can use it straight from the set without adding any extra water.

Reasons to use real watercolor paper

We use student grade 140lb watercolor paper mostly, it's cost effective and works well. Watercolor paper is designed to hold and absorb water without the paper wrinkling or tearing and the paint just soaks in and stays vibrant. If you have ever used watercolor paper for a project it is hard to go back to regular paper!

Some of my Favorite Watercolor Supplies

5 Easy Watercolor Techniques for Kids

Wet on Wet Technique

This is probably the easiest and most common watercolor technique for kids to try and can easily be done by younger kids. It is also the base for building on some of the other techniques so it's a good one to try first.

Basically, you paint your watercolors onto wet paper and as the paper dries, the paint mixes and creates beautiful unique patterns. The number of colors you use for this technique is up to you, try using 2 or 3 to start.

1. First, mix your paint in your palette. Remember to test your colors on scrap paper to make sure they are dark enough.

2. Next, tape your paper down to a wooden board using painters tape. You can use scrap wood (some hardware stores will give you scraps for free) or some art supply stores carry them. This helps to keep the paper from sliding all over when painting (which can be frustrating for kids), creates a nice border around the finished painting and also helps the paper dry flat.

3. Using a flat brush, paint your entire paper with clean water. You don't want the paper to be soaking if you find it too wet, you can dab it with some paper towels.
Related: How to Make a Beautiful Watercolor Flower Painting
4. Start to paint your paper, using one color at a time. Kids can experiment with painting in different ways, they can dab the paint on or paint in long brushstrokes across their paper like in the example above.

Remind them to not mix the paint together on their paper or the colors will get muddy. Make sure that kids wash their brush in between colors. As the paint dries, the colors will mix together and create beautiful and unique patterns.

If you are wanting your paper to dry faster, you can always use a hairdryer to help.

We use this watercolor technique a lot, often combined with other methods. You can see this technique in action in our Fall Leaf Painting with Watercolors and Glitter and our Unique Watercolor Bookmarks.

Using Salt with Watercolors

This is a fun one! The salt can create some really interesting patterns as your paper dries. You use the wet on wet technique first and then sprinkle on your salt while your paper is still wet.

We have tried regular table salt and coarse salt and the coarse salt is by far our favorite!

1. First, paint your watercolor paper using the wet on wet technique.

2. While your painting is still wet, sprinkle salt onto your painting. Let kids experiment with where to put their salt and how much to use. Try out table salt and coarse salt to see the different patterns each makes.

3. Let your painting dry completely before brushing the salt off. This can be messy! I like to take our paintings outside to do this, or you can brush the salt into the sink.

We use this salt technique a lot in our watercolor projects, I love the salt patterns in our Monet Water Lilies Art Project for Kids and in this Snowflake Watercolor Winter Art.

Spatter or Splatter Painting

Some people call this technique spattering, others call it splatter painting, however you say it kids will love to do it! It's a super fun watercolor technique that can add interest to any art project. You can use 1 color or multiple colors, there are no rules.

1. Choose a watercolor project you would like to add some spatter painting to, you can use a painting with the wet on wet technique, or with the salt technique, it's up to you. Or just a plain piece of watercolor paper is fine to start!

2. You generally want to mix your colors on the darker side. In the example above, we used a dark green and a gold color.

You can do spatter painting on paper that is wet or dry, each one will give you a different effect. If your paper is wet, the paint will soak in more, spread out a bit, giving it a softer effect.

3. Hold your paintbrush in one hand and with your first two fingers on your other hand tap your paintbrush across your paper, creating a spatter effect. Get more paint on your brush and try again. Keep going until you like how your painting looks.

This is a great technique to paint snow, which you can see here in our Northern Lights Watercolor Painting for Kids.

Sticker Resist Watercolor Technique for Kids

This is probably my kid's favorite watercolor technique. There are so many fun possibilities with different shapes and sizes of stickers, you can't go wrong with this painting idea!

1. Get your stickers, paper, and paints ready. I like to use simple shapes for this technique. Remember, it will just be the silhouette shape that's on your painting so you don't want anything complicated.

2. Place your stickers on your paper, pressing down firmly.

3. Paint your paper with your watercolors, we used a wet on wet technique with 3 colors for our example.

4. Let your painting dry completely. Take your stickers off to reveal your amazing design underneath!

You can see how we used this technique in these Sticker Resist Watercolor Valentine Bookmarks. And I just love how this Watercolor Easter Egg Art with Stickers turned out. We have also done an oil pastel resist technique with these Surprise Ghost Paintings.

Using Plastic Wrap with Watercolors

Another simple technique that results in gorgeous patterns and textures in your painting!

1. First, mix up your paints, get your paper ready and have some plastic wrap handy. You can use 1 or more colors for this project, I think using at least 2 gives a nice effect.

2. Next, paint your paper using the wet on wet technique.

3. While your painting is still wet, place some plastic wrap onto the paper. Move it around a bit to create some interesting texture, you don't want it flat against the paper.

You can see in the example above that the wet paint pools underneath the plastic wrap, this will create some really cool and interesting patterns

4. Wait for your painting to dry completely before taking the plastic wrap off underneath to reveal your beautiful painting!

I love the textured effect of this watercolor method, the lines and streaks it creates across the paper give it a structured look, which is a bit different than the softer feel of using salt or just a wet on wet approach

We used this technique for our 3D Flower Mother's Day Cards as you can see in the example above.

These 5 watercolor techniques for kids are simple to do, but so fun and engaging for kids to create and explore! I hope you have a chance to try a few out. I would love to hear about your favorite technique that you have tried.

We love creating and exploring with different art supplies and techniques. If you are looking for more art projects to try, take a look at our ultimate collection of amazing art projects for kids!

More painting ideas kids will love

Pin these ideas for later
The Best Painting Ideas for Kids to Try 47 Creative Watercolor Painting Ideas Kids will Love Follow me on Pinterest for more great project ideas.

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5 Easy Watercolor Techniques for Kids That Produce Fantastic Results

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These easy watercolor techniques for kids are perfect for all ages and offer endless possibilities for creativity and fun.

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8 Basic Watercolor Techniques for Beginners

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Hold it right there: Before you start adding fancy details and textures to your work, you need to know a few of the most basic watercolor painting techniques to try. Use these to get started, then build on them however you like.

1. Watercolor Washes

There's more than one way to approach laying a watercolor wash - you can either do it on a wet surface or a dry one.

One tip for any watercolor wash: If you notice a mistake in a previous stroke, don't try to fix it. Once the wash has started to dry, a new stroke will almost definitely be more noticeable than any small mistake. It's best to leave these happy little accidents as they are.

Dry Wash

Use a large flat or round brush and an angled surface like a drafting table or easel (this way gravity does some work for you.) On your palette, mix a generous amount of water with your chosen pigment. Remember that watercolors dry lighter than they look when they're wet. You might want to practice on a scrap of watercolor paper first.

Load your brush with as much paint as it'll hold. Then, working quickly, make a steady, controlled horizontal stroke along the top of the paper. You'll notice the water in the first stroke starts to pool along the bottom edge - don't let this dry! Reload your brush with pigment and paint another stroke just below the first one, overlapping with the bottom edge.

When you reach the bottom, blot your brush on a paper towel, then use the dry tip to carefully pull up the excess paint along the bottom of the final stroke to avoid a darker bottom. Let your paper dry completely at an angle before setting it down flat again.

Wet Wash

A wet surface watercolor wash is about the same as a dry wash, with one main difference: First you'll dip your brush in water and brush it over the whole surface. Be generous with the water here - you want the paper glistening with moisture.

Once you've wet the area, dip the brush in paint and apply lines of color within the wet area, just like you would with a dry wash. The paint will blend together into one luminous wash of color.

2. Wet-In-Wet Watercolor Painting

Wet-in-wet painting is one of the most basic techniques - so basic you might have already done it before without realizing it!

Start by brushing water (and only water) onto your paper. Then dip your brush in paint and spread it over the water wash. The paint will feather and diffuse like magic.

3. Underpainting

An underpainting is essentially a monochrome wash that's used for the first layer of the painting. You'll add layers of transparent washes over the underpainting, which gives realistic and luminous effects.

First, mix a light purple shade (a combo of cadmium red and ultramarine blue works great). Neutral shades of blue or green can also work.

Lightly paint your subject using the purple, and pay careful attention to light and shade. Since you're only working in one color, you can really focus on rendering the shape. Use a soft brush and a light hand to keep the purple from overpowering the rest of the painting.

Let the underpainting dry completely before moving on to glazing in color. If it's wet, you might muddy your colors.

4. Gradients and Color Blending

A simple watercolor wash uses just one color, but you can add depth to your work by using more hues in a gradient. Start by adding fresh watercolor to a wet paint surface.

Then place the second color - either a more intense version of the same hue or a different hue entirely - right beside the first color.

Because the paints are on a wet surface, they'll blend slightly and create a natural gradient in the tones. You can control how neat or painterly a gradient comes out by the wetness of the paint.

5. Layering Watercolors

Once a color of paint has dried, you can add layers of watercolor to create dimension, texture and color variation. Just know that the paper has to be completely dry in between washes so that the colors don't blend together and get muddy.

Wait until your initial color has dried completely (not damp - dry!), then paint the second color on top. Just don't add much water to the second color since this can re-wet the initial color and make the two blend.

To make the lines of your second color less severe, you can wet the brush with water and brush gently to feather the line.

6. Dry Brush

Dry brush painting requires using very little paint and water to create a scratchy, "scraped-across" brushstroke. It can be used for an entire painting, but it's also perfect for creating texture in small areas of a larger painting.

Mix your pigment, making sure your paint mixture is not super wet. Dip your dry brush into the paint, dab it onto a paper towel to remove the excess, and brush lightly across the surface - this method highlights the texture of the paper and also doesn't muddy your colors.

7. Lifting Color

In some cases, you'll want to remove pigment from your painting. This is especially handy when you've made a mistake or when you want to add white space to your work. Using different techniques, you can lift color from wet or dry watercolor.

Lifting from Wet Watercolors

If your paint's still wet, it's easy to remove pigment. Blot your brush thoroughly and touch it to the paint to lift it back off the paper. The trick here is that the damp-but-blotted brush absorbs more water than it releases, so it'll quickly pick the wet color up from your painting.

Another option is to use a paper towel or tissue paper to lift the pigment. These tools can be the better choice if you're going for a more abstract, less controlled white space. If you want more control, use a brush.

Lifting Dry Watercolor

You can also lift pigment off the page even if the paint's dry, though it's a little more difficult. Believe it or not, this can be pretty effectively done with a simple eraser.

For a little more control, start by wetting the area with water, then use a stiff, nearly dry brush or a paper towel to lift the color.

8. Watercolor Blooms

Watercolor blooms or blossoms like these happen when very wet paint spreads on a drier (but not completely dry) area of a painting. When you apply wet paint on a still-damp wash, the liquid forces the original pigment out, and it creates these fun, irregularly shaped splotches.

First, lay down a colorful wet wash and let it dry a little. Then load your brush with water and touch it lightly to the paper. The drops of water will create sharply defined blooms. How dry the underlying wash is determines the hardness of edges.

You can also do the same thing with two colors: Apply the first and let it dry a bit. Then apply a wet wash of a different color right next to the first one, so that they come in contact. The wetter of the two washes will flow into the other.

9. Back Washes

This technique is similar to watercolor blooms because it requires a certain level of dryness to get the look. Apply a wet wash of color and tilt the surface a little. The color should drift to one side of the painting area. Then set the surface down flat. As the water dries, it bleeds upward again and creates a back wash.

10. Feathering

If you're going for a gradient that goes from a saturated color to a more transparent hue, adding more paint won't do the trick. What you need is water. Start with a strong area of color and then use a clean, wet brush to "diffuse" the color, making a gentle gradient or "feathering" effect.

11. Lines, Hatching and Crosshatching

Watercolor can be used to paint lines of any size, shape and thickness. Just like with pen and ink drawings, you can place lines beside each other or layer them perpendicular to each other for a hatching or cross-hatching effect.

For clean lines, use a small, pointed brush and load it with pigment, using only a dash of water. Then, paint a line on your paper. Depending on how much water you add to the brush, you can get dark, crisp lines or flowy, freeform lines.

12. Scumbling

Scumbling is a technique where irregular motions are used to make either a line or layer on paint. It's basically like scribbling with your brush. Don't think too hard about it: just paint irregularly in an area. To really see the texture, use a relatively dry brush.

13. Stippling

Instead of applying lines or areas of paint, stippling is painting tiny dots in a concentrated area. Once you've painted many dots, you'll have a saturated color and fascinating texture.

Stippling can be neat and tidy, or the marks can overlap in a more freeform way. You can use a fairly dry brush for more defined dots or a wet brush for a looser look. And of course, the size of the brush you choose will determine the size of your dots, so choose carefully.

14. Splattering

Hello, Jackson Pollock. Splattering gives your painting an energetic vibe, but it's easier said than done - this technique can easily get messy and uncontrollable. But there are three approaches to making splattering more approachable.

The Tapping Method

Fill the bristles of your paintbrush with pigment. Then, either with your fingers or a second brush, gently tap the pigment-filled paintbrush over your paper. That will give the paint enough force travel across your canvas and cover a lot of ground. But keep in mind that this method makes the paint more difficult to control.

The Flicking Method

For more control over your splatter, you've gotta get your hands dirty. Load a stiff-bristled brush (or a spare toothbrush, if you have one) with pigment and hold it in one hand at a downward angle, so the bristles are pointed toward the ground. Then, with your opposite hand, slowly run your fingers along the edge of the brush, pulling the bristles back so that they launch paint onto the canvas.

Make a Stencil

For ultimate control over your splatter paint, make a stencil. It's simple - just cut a shape from a large sheet of paper and place it over your canvas before splattering paint.

15. Sponge Painting

A textured sponge can be a very handy tool to paint everything from foliage in trees to sand on a beach. You can use a sea sponge or a regular new household sponge; just dip it into your pigment and press it to your paper.

16. Adding Texture with Salt

When salt is sprinkled on a wet wash, it starts to gather the watercolor pigments and makes the coolest texture. The effect will vary depending on the size of the grains of salt and the wetness of the paper, so experiment on scraps of watercolor paper before you commit on your final painting. Once the paint is dry, simply brush off the excess salt.

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16 Watercolor Techniques You Have to Try

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Hold it right there: Before you start adding fancy details and textures to your work, you need to know a few of the most basic watercolor painting techniques to try. Use these to get started, then build on them however you like.