Summer Zoom Painting- set up

 Good afternoon!

Now that you have all your supplies, what do you do to be ready to paint on Friday?

I will put out an announcement in Signal on the project we are going to paint, if there is an outline, the recommended colors, brush sizes, any extra tools or materials, and painting orientation on Thursday. 

Example- Tomorrow we are painting a Rainbow Parrot. There is an outline. The recommended colors are red, yellow, blue, and purple. You will need one mid-sized round brush and one drinking straw. It is in landscape orientation.

Friday, around 10:45, I will post the link (also in Signal) for the zoom meeting (will be new each week). I’m borrowing my sister’s account, so when you see Jadalynn Orr as host, that is correct. We will not start painting until at least 11.

First, you need to find a place in your house where your artists can paint in relative peace. We use my dining room table. Cat optional. You’ll note I didn’t even clear the whole thing. Tidied is not a requirement. Only enough space for whoever is painting. 

Place whatever zoom operated device you have in sight of all the artists. If you have many artists and need two tablets in the same room, make sure one is muted and you don’t sign in to the sound. If they both have sound, we will all get feedback. 

If taping your paper to a board, do that. Just run tape all the way around the paper. I can usually reuse and get two to three tapings per piece of tape. Make sure the more textured side of the paper is up. Arrange boards in orientation noted in the weekly project announcement. Put the brushes they’ll need and any extra tools across the top of the paper.

If you have individual left-handed painters set up water, palette, paper. This will avoid most accidental drips as they pull their brush over the paper.

If you have individual right-handed students, set up paper, palette, water for the same reason.

If you have students sharing a palette and water, place them in the center. They can decide if they want to try to keep one water clean or use their own individual waters.

Apply paint to your palette. You are welcome to let your child choose colors if the suggested ones are not to their liking. You are also welcome to mix colors if you are missing what is suggested or allow your child to mix them to get close to the recommended colors. This palette contains enough paint for multiple pieces. We use water to make it apply smoothly to the paper. If you are using pans, wet the colors you will need before starting. If you boldly acquired liquid watercolor, I’d suggest one drop at a time until you and your student can use them with confidence. They will need to be heavily diluted.

If the project has an outline, go to https://www.letsmakeart.com/pages/outline-library-login, login to your account, find and print the project we are doing. Then-

If you have carbon paper- apply carbon paper black side down to your watercolor paper. If you’re worried about shifting, use a small piece of tape to hold it down.

Place the outline on top of the carbon paper.

Use something sharp (I use a pencil) to trace the lines. All your lines will be very visible and clear.

If you don’t have carbon paper- turn the outline upside down.

Scribble on the back with pencil wherever the lines are (I’ve tried a lot of mediums and pencil is the best)

If worried you missed a spot, you can check against a light.

Place on watercolor paper and trace the lines as before

The outline will be visible, but lighter than using carbon paper. This is possibly the better option for your completed painting, as visible guidelines in a finished piece are sometimes frowned upon in watercolor.

I will note- if you are looking to sell your paintings, tracing from anything other than original photographs is definitely not a good idea. I don’t have any intention of ever selling anything, these outlines are offered for free because the company wants you to use them, and I am not interested in improving my drawing skills. Your child is more than welcome to freehand their pieces if they’d rather or if they think tracing is cheating.

Have your drying device nearby.

Now you are ready to paint! This is the completed project.

And this is the paint I have leftover. You might have less or more depending on how your child applies it, especially in the first few weeks when they are just getting used to the idea of how to use watercolor.

Now you are ready to join us this week and start learning about watercolor. If you want a head start, you can watch or follow Sarah's beginner series (Playlist here), but that won't be necessary to enjoy the meetings. I will start with very easy projects and we will get more advanced as we go. They will all be accessible.

Summer Zoom Painting - Materials

Hello everyone! 

I have reawakened my long dead blog because I think this is the easiest format to get a lot of information down in an easy-to-read format. 

This is the material list. I’ll write another about setup for actual class shortly. 

First of all, don’t ever pay full price for materials. Both Hobby Lobby and Michael’s constantly have sales and coupons. And Walmart brand stuff will do in a pinch if that's more affordable (though, with coupons and sales, it often is not).

Secondly, please get materials that will help your students feel successful. Cheap, plasticy brushes, copy paper, and dollar store paints will cause more frustration than the value they provide. You don’t have to have artist quality supplies to have an excellent experience, but there is a level where it does make a difference. 

Thirdly, this is supposed to be enjoyable. If your kid doesn’t want to do it and will grouse… well.. never mind. Mine is going to do that and he will be required to join. 

Ready? Let’s get into it. 

What you will NEED-

Paint- I usually use Artist Loft brand tubes to paint with Jeremiah. Make sure you get Watercolor and not acrylic or oil. All the tubes are very similar looking. At Michael's, they are color coded. Watercolor is BLUE. Tubes are bright, accessible, and last forever. We have been using the same tubes for three years and only now are starting to run out. You can get individual (I would suggest at least red, blue, yellow, pink, black, and white) or multi packs (just check for a pink or magenta and get one of those if it doesn’t have one). You can use pans if you prefer, but the quality of inexpensive pans varies far more widely than that of tubes. Most of the tutorials we will follow use liquid watercolor and those are vibrant and beautiful, but messy and expensive.

 

Brushes- any multipack that says “watercolor” will do. Do try to avoid mixed media brushes and stick to ones specifically designed for watercolor. Keep them separate from your acrylic or other paint brushes. They don’t respond well to mixed treatment. One small round, one large round, and one wash (larger flat) brush per student should be enough to do just about everything.

Palettes- you will need one per child, or at least one per pair of children. Because watercolor involves a lot of mixing your own colors, I suggest having a separate mixing palette even if you are going to use pan paints. These don’t have to cost anything. I keep my leftover broccoli holders from Aldi and think they make fantastic palettes. After you paint, you can allow any leftover paint to dry on it and rewet it as needed. It will always rehydrate for you. And, if you need a palette or two, I have plenty.

Paper- This is probably the most important thing when watercoloring. Please, please get watercolor paper for your children to paint on. Not cardstock, not mixed media, not construction, definitely not copy paper. It doesn’t have to be the best paper, but we will be using a lot of water, and no other paper can hold up to the downpour. I use Canson XL paper, 140 lb. It is inexpensive, but provides good quality.

Water- I mean, it’s in the name… we will be using water to not only rinse our brushes, but also to make our paint different values and to move it along the page. It is recommended to use two water cups- one to rinse your brush and one to keep clean when adding fresh water. I usually end up with two dirty cups, but I try. One per pair of students is enough. I use old three wick candles. We have also used old yogurt containers. I do this because I usually have some sort of beverage while I paint and the likelihood of accidentally drinking my watercolor water goes down (unfortunately, not to zero) if I don't have it in a drinking vessel to begin with.

Let’s Make Art account- We will mostly be following tutorials from this company. Sometimes they have outlines that need to be transferred to the page before you paint. The account is free and you do not have to choose to get any emails from them. You only need the account to access the outline library. I will post the project and materials required and if you need an outline on Thursday. If you want to freehand draw your outline, this is not required. But when I paint, I am interested in getting a lot of color on the paper quickly, not in drawing. https://www.letsmakeart.com/

What you may WANT-

Carbon Paper- I will post how to transfer an outline using carbon paper and not using carbon paper, but carbon paper is much easier.  These are two half sheets I just taped together. If you are going to have your students freehand, this is not necessary.

Tape- I tape my paintings down. It helps me when the water makes the paper buckle and makes a very pretty edge. I just use masking tape. Blue or green painter’s tape also works. You can get fancy and buy tape made specifically for taping down watercolors, but that's not a requirement.

A movable surface- If you choose to tape, having a surface you can maneuver can be very helpful.  I paint on a very old cutting board. A piece of cardboard works just as well. And, like the palettes, I have plenty to share if anyone needs it.

Something to dry with- Watercolor is a layering project. Sometimes we won’t need to wait for it to dry, but often, there is a drying time between steps. I use a small space heater or a hair dryer when I need to dry our paintings quickly. There is a specific tool (called a heated craft tool) that is made to dry without blowing the paint around as much if you want to make the investment. 

That’s everything you need. If you have any questions, you can post a comment, write me on signal, shoot me a text, talk to me this afternoon or Friday... Some of you know where I live.. I'm available to contact..

I’ll get a "how to" set up before the second!

Joelle