Summer zoom painting- frog shadow

Good afternoon again!

Today we went long because of dry time, but we got some fun conversation in while waiting. 

Small skill start-

Today’s beginning lesson was actually about the work we were doing together. The idea behind the original painting was you were looking up at a frog on a leaf so your perspective was the underside of the leaf and its shadow. If you want to make the painting your own, you can pick a frog, or make one up. Just know they are painting over the whole thing and if you want to make your red or purple pop, you’d need to paint around the frog. 

Painting together-

Today, we painted a frog shadow… or a frog depending on who you were…

While waiting for our leaves to dry, we talked about many things, including frog and toad differences. 

While I know of at least one very famous passage in the Bible that specifically mentions frogs, I decided to not go the plague route and instead chose Psalm 28:7 My heart leaps for joy, and with my song, I will praise Him.

This is an excellent project to practice lettering on if you want to, because there is a large section of green above your frog.

At home practice-

This week, I’m suggesting you try wet on dry negative painting. 

Start with a background. Draw some simple shapes. Paint everything around those shapes in a very diluted color. Dry. Repeat, adding more shapes and pigment each time. Here is a video in case this makes no sense (this lady has fantastic, easy, calming projects if you want to watch or follow more of her). I have two examples today, one of circles over rainbow, and one of darkening leaf-ish shapes. 

We will be doing at least one other project that involves dry time and wet on dry techniques, so keep those blow dryers handy and we’ll have to practice patience! 

Thank you for joining us. See you next week!

Summer Zoom Painting- Cats

Good afternoon!

I hope you had an opportunity to enjoy the week and spend time with your families. 

Small skill start-

Today, I talked about bleeds and blooms. They were both likely to happen and there’s not always much you can do about either (there are fixes and workarounds, but that’s not the point of today’s lesson), so I just wanted your children to be aware of what they were and what they looked like and that it was ok if they happened. 

A bleed is when you put two colors next to each other and one of them spreads into the other. 

A bloom occurs when you put a very wet color on top of a color that is already drying. It will leave a line of pigment around the edge of whatever you painted. (This can be avoided by painting on wet paper, but that only works in certain situations)

Painting together-

Today, we painted Cats. Here are our projects. 

Jeremiah painted our three cats. I just painted cats. 

We did not finish during painting time. In order to do the faces, the cats needed to be very dry. Jeremiah used pen to finish his faces and I grabbed my acrylics to finish mine. 

If you missed or need a reference, click the link to watch the video or watch it again. Remember to let your paint dry thoroughly before trying to put faces over. If it is still wet, you will either ruin your painting or ruin your drawing instrument. Or both. 

Our verse for the day was Psalm 136: 25-26 He gives food to all creatures, for His gracious love is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his gracious love is everlasting. 

We had some really good discussion about cats and not being in the Bible, despite evidence that they were domesticated in that timeframe. And talked about lions being used as multiple different examples in the Bible, just not any tiny house lion references. Lots of very thoughtful biblical and extra biblical conversation about our feline friends. 

At home practice-

This week, I want your kids to work with paint to see how bleeds and blooms can affect their painting. Reverse coloring books seem to have become pretty popular, so they’re going to make their own. 

Start with wetting the entire page. Then, as it dries, add colors to it in various amounts and wetnesses and strokes. Just have fun watching it move and swirl. When it is completely dry, they can outline any blooms or bleeds they find (optional). It’s really a fun activity and can teach a lot about how watercolor moves against each other. 

Hope that if you wanted to attend today and couldn’t, you get to come next week. And if you just like doing the work alone, that you can find time to do that this week!

Summer Zoom Painting- Ocean Wave

Good afternoon!

I hope we are all enjoying- well… it was beautiful yesterday… 

Small skill start-

We had two short lessons this morning. 

The first was on using resists. Resists are anything that keeps the paint from touching the paper. We used crayons, the video used a latex paint maker, but there are a lot of things that can be used as resists. Oil pastels, wax based colored pencils (most of them are wax based), even modeling clay or hot glue could be put on your paper pre painting to get a resist result. To use a crayon, press hard and make very firm marks on your page. 

No Resist

Heart in crayon

The second was that this is the first time we are painting the whole page and if you do not have your paper taped down, you will experience curling. While there are ways to avoid this, the goal for today was just to not worry if this happened. 

Painting together-

Our project today was Ocean Waves. These were our results. I’ve heard varying responses about how they turned out in your house. Click the link if you want to try or try again. 

Our connecting verse- well, the one I chose and did not tell the group because I forgot, is Psalm 89:9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.

There’s a joke in contemporary Christian music writing that if your song is bad, just add more water references. And it is very funny (to me, anyway), but there are hundreds of Bible verses about water. It’s so vital to life everywhere and so important in both literal and figurative speech. Feel free to look and choose whichever speaks to you strongest in your time. 

The reason I picked this one is because it reminded me of Jesus telling the storm “Peace, be still” and his disciples wondering, “Who is this man that even the wind and sea obey him?” The parallel between the Psalm, Christ’s words, and the disciples’ reaction really spoke to me this week. 

At home practice-

I actually also have two options for at home work this week. 

The first was my planned project- neurographic art. Draw squiggles, then take the time to round off any corners. Paint as desired after. It’s very good for anxiety, so I have several examples if you need to see them. 

I call this one, “I hate flying”

The second is to work on understanding how to make your crayon resists work better for you. I heard a lot of people had a hard time getting their crayon to pop up and I think it’s mostly because we didn’t have any practice to start and it takes a lot of pressure to achieve the look. Use a small piece of paper and make small shapes in crayon. Just a few at a time.you can draw over the same line several times if you want to. 

Load your brush with water and paint and paint over your drawn shapes. 

 

Once you are satisfied that you understand how hard you need to draw and how much paint vs water to have on your brush, try the project again! 

(Or you could be fancy and invest in a latex marker and avoid the problem altogether) 

I do know how discouraging it is to have a project not turn out as intended. Remember, it is just a piece of paper. You can do it again, or do something entirely different. And, even if it didn’t turn out like you wanted, you learned things along the way.

Summer Zoom Painting- Salt Geode

Hello again!

Whether you missed and want to see what we did, or are just here to review, I hope you enjoy your time today.

Small Skill Start-

Today we talked about the two main types of watercolor painting. 

Wet on wet- where you either lay down color and add color on top of it or lay down water and add color to the wet paper. This is what creates a lot of movement in watercolor paintings, but you don’t always have a lot of control of where the paint goes. 

Wet on dry- when you want a sharp outline or your paint to stay where you put it, you do not wet the paper first. If you are painting in layers, you allow them to completely dry before painting on top. 

Painting together-

Today we painted a salt geode. If you missed, want to paint again, or need to watch for other reasons, click the link. These are ours. 

Our verses for today were 

Luke 19:40 the stones will cry out 

Job 12:8 and 10 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

Much like Psalm 19:1 states the heavens declare the glory of God, the Earth displays His wonders for us to behold and glorify Him in. 

At home practice-

Your super secret squirrel mission this week, should you choose to accept it, is to practice wet on wet techniques. This can be done very simply with just painting a circle, then paining another one touching it, then painting another one next to it, also touching, maybe paint a circle with just water... Wet on wet circles are enjoyable, easy, and let you watch how paint reacts to itself and water. when it’s dry, it makes a great backdrop for lettering or ink drawing. 

I hope your kids enjoyed themselves today and were starting to get the hang of painting together! This is a learning curve for all of us and I appreciate your patience. 

Summer Zoom Painting- Rainbow Lollipop recap

Good Friday afternoon!

I hope if you joined us today you enjoyed it; and if you did not that you had a wonderful day. 

Small skill start-

We started with a very brief explanation of what watercolor is and how the word “water” in it is very important. If you don’t use enough, your paint won’t spread or mix properly. 

So, if you are having trouble, use more water. 

Painting together-

Today, we painted rainbow lollipops. Here are Jeremiah’s and mine. If you want to follow along again or you missed and you want to try on your own, click the link  

Afterwards, I shared a verse you and your kids are welcome to use to letter over their painting or just to meditate on how even in our painting we can glorify God. Today’s verse is Psalm 119:103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. 

Obviously, I revised it a little (and then spelled lollipop wrong. Oh well).

At home practice-

For at least the first four weeks, I will have an optional activity for you to do at home. I know paper is expensive and time is often short, so I will not announce it in the Zoom meeting. It’s only for you as the grownup to decide if you want to implement it. It will be to hone a skill that will help their art in the future. 

Today’s suggestion is one color painting. Have your student make a drawing with several small spaces to fill in (I used water. They could do a flower bouquet, a pile of rocks, a repeating pattern, just so it has lots of small spaces). Have them choose ONE COLOR to use for the whole painting. No white, no black, only the paint and water. This will really help them start to understand how the paint and water work together to make many different shades(values) and learn some vital techniques very early. 

I hope you and your students enjoyed today. I appreciate being able to share some time with you all. Will post next week’s project on Thursday!

Summer zoom painting- cleanup

 So, you’ve painted. You’ve shown everyone your gorgeous painting. You turn off zoom and look at your space and sigh. You have a mess. 

Not to fear. Cleanup is super easy. First, rinse your brushes thoroughly. Then, reshape if needed, and leave them to dry. Best practice states to let them dry flat, but I do put them back in my cup. 

Just DO NOT leave them in the water. The bristles will splay and bend and the glue that holds them in will be weakened. 

BAD! DON’T DO THIS!

Rinse your cups so they’re ready for next time  

Leave your palette. Unless your palette is mud or you don’t think you can work off it next wee, allow it to dry and use it again. Watercolor rewets. 

I’m still useful!

If you used tape- make sure your painting is completely dry before you take it off (there is no harm in allowing it to be on indefinitely and 24 hours is often suggested). When peeling, make sure you peel the tape away from the painting so any tears do not go INTO your painting. 

Put everything away. 

Wash your hands.

The end! See? Easy.