water colors

I think I may have put too many techniques into one lesson this time, but summer is coming so fast and I have so many things I want to do with the art class that we might have to force everyone to attend summer school art class too.

We dribbled rubber cement on cardstock pages last week so they’d have time to dry. Before class, I put wide painters tape along the edges of the pages for 2 reasons. First to give the paintings an edge that the kids could paint right up to with slightly less mess. Secondly, that boarder that didn't get soggy with the paint helps the paper dry a little less warped. If we had taped the paper on to a rigid, water resistant surface like a big piece of masonite or a clipboard before we painted and then let it dry while still taped down, the paper would dry almost completely smooth and flat.  I have thought about getting a masonite drawing/painting board for each of the kids, but first I need to figure out where I'd store 6 of those big fellas.


This week we water colored over the rubber cement using analogous color palettes; that is three colors that are adjacent on the color wheel. (hmmmm, well, everyone except AJ stuck with the assignment of using an analogous color scheme.)  While the paint was still wet we sprinkled on some salt to watch how it changes the pigments as they dry. Then when the whole thing dried, we removed the tape & the rubber cement and any place it had been was beautiful, bright white. I removed the rubber cement & salt from mine by rubbing it over and over with just my finger. This is a good idea ONLY if you plan some deviant behaviors which might be benefited by the lack of fingerprints in the near future. I had the kids use pencil erasers and it was quicker and less painful.


Here are some close ups of my favorite areas in the paintings. I'm thinking these might get cut up and glued onto card stock for thank you cards.