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We started the tradition last year of painting together every month, and we are having a ton of fun continuing the tradition this year.

February Painting: Playing with Color

At SNAP conference last year, I attended a watercolor class by Natalie Malan. I kept this paper from the class and used the Color Wheel to teach my kids about blending colors today.

When you’re blending colors, it is best to mix colors no more than 1-2 apart on the wheel, or your color will look like mud. For example, yellows, greens and blues mix really nice, because they are within 1-2 colors of each other on the color wheel.

Playing with these different color combinations was the main goal today. A secondary goal was playing with brushstrokes.

Surprisingly, this was one of the very favorite weeks for the kids. I guess they had always been harboring a secret desire to just PLAY with paint colors. I think all kids love abstract. Since abstract art doesn’t have to look like anything, anyone can feel good about their art.

Izzy said this is one of the paintings that she is most proud of, which made me so happy. I love to see her confidence make appearances. That’s what this is all about.

Tips for Making it Easier at Home

Use a stencil. Often, I will cut out some stencils on my Silhouette. We put the vinyl on our canvas’ and then paint inside. After we paint, we pull the vinyl off.
Search for simplified paintings or cartoon images to imitate.
Setup in a place where a paint spill could be cleaned up, so you won’t feel anxious while you paint … and use a plastic tablecloth on the table!

Supplies you Need

Though we have easels for everyone, we decided pretty quickly that they got in the way, especially from seeing each other. We also figured out that paper plates were less messy than palettes. Here’s the basic stuff you need:

Paint Shirts (I use an assortment of my husband’s old shirts for my kids, but my paint shirt is a Bob Ross shirt that says “no mistakes – just happy accidents”.)
Acrylic Paints (The inexpensive little bottles at the craft stores work great or you can also get them in paint bundles on Amazon.)
Paper Plates (Easier to clean than paint palettes.)
Plastic Tablecloth (I re-use these a few months until there are holes in it. I just decided to upgrade to this vinyl tablecloth when I realized we could use it for a few years, if not longer.)
Paint Brushes (You’ll want multiple brush sizes. A brush starter set is good at the beginning, and if you get into it, you’ll collect more brushes along the way.)
8 x 10 Canvases (This is a great size for regular use. I like to save money buying the canvas bundles on Amazon.)
Old Jar (This is to put the used and dirty paint brushes before washing.)

Join in and share in our group!! I’m going to start a thread in our Facebook group in a few days where we can all share pictures of our painting-with-kid adventures. (Search “A Year of Painting With Kids” in the discussion.) I hope you’ll join in!!

What will you paint this month?

From my home to yours,
Mary