Have you ever tried wet-on-wet painting? What is that? Well, we soak the paper in water and use watercolor paints to paint on the wet paper.
When you paint this way, the colors flow. You get a real experience of color in motion. I find it relaxing and rather meditative.
This is the kind of painting I’ve done with the children in my classes and with parents and children in my parent child classes.
Wet-on-wet painting-an opportunity for quiet enjoyment of the colors
It’s hard for us grown-ups not to explain about colors mixing together or to not ask our child what they are painting or to tell them what we see.
Resist! and Be Still!
Allow your child and yourself to enjoy the experience of color flowing over water. Set the tone for your child. Immerse yourself in the experience of color.
If they speak to you, answer as briefly as possible–perhaps just with a smile and little nod. Or maybe, “Yes, I see.” and then go back to your painting.
If you do this, your child will find their way–maybe over the course of several painting sessions–to quietly enjoying the flow of color, as well.
Learning to find inner quiet is challenging these days. And it’s really important for children and for us.
Wet-on-wet painting: the video
In this video, I share a lovely Waldorf how to: wet on wet painting with your little ones (or by yourself). I’ve done this kind of painting with kids as young as 1-1/2, as long as they are old enough to not drink the paint to pour it all over. I always paint with them–and I encourage you to do the same.
There are lots of benefits to this:
- You get to paint!
- If you feel that you’re not artistic, no problem! The idea is to experience the color moving on the paper, not to create a masterpiece
- You get to spend time with your child doing something fun
- Since young children learn through imitation, you can teach them by doing it yourself
Materials needed
It’s easy to do this kind of painting at home, but you will need a few supplies.
For wet-on-wet painting, you’ll need:
- Painting boards (one for each person–and, as I mentioned above, I encourage you to paint with your child.) I prefer the plastic ones over the wood ones, as they don’t warp. You can find recycled ones, like these from Bellaluna toys--they’re recycled and biodegradable.
- Watercolor paper–it’s worth getting good quality paper, so it won’t bubble or pill. I recommend 140 weight cold press paper. You’ll want to get paper that will fit onto your board, although you can always buy large sheets and cut them to size. For the little ones, I often round the corners–it gives a softer feeling.
- Watercolor paint. I’ve always used Stockmar brand paint. It’s kind of expensive, but a little goes a long way. You only need the 3 primary colors. In Stockmar, I use–lemon yellow, carmine red, and ultramarine blue. These colors mix together nicely. (Stockmar carries other colors but these work the best for mixing.) You can also use watercolor in tubes if you prefer–you can get it at an art store or online. You’ll have to figure out which colors on your own for that.
- Watercolor paintbrush–1 for each person. Again, I recommend getting good quality brushes–at least an inch wide up to 2 inches.
- Jars for mixing and storing paint (store extra paint in the fridge if you can), jars for painting out of, and jars for rinsing water. You can use recycled jars for this–larger ones for mixing, storing, and rinsing, and smaller ones for painting out of (I like to use baby food jars for this). You can also purchase a set of three jars with a wooden stand. I’ve never used them, but they look nice and are more stable than just jars–I’ve mostly used recycled jars myself.
Where to get the supplies
Bellaluna toys, mentioned above, carries everything you’ll need–as do other Waldorf stores online (or in person if you have one of those near you). I know Bellaluna has a lovely set of jars for holding paint with a stand if you want to invest in something like that. Amazon carries all of these things, too–although I’m not sure about the jars and stand.
The painting song
Here are the words for my painting song that I share in the video:
My lovely rainbow,
See it span,
So lovely shining,
Over the land.
You are so red, gold, green and blue,
I’d like to climb it now with you.
Painting stories
A lot of Waldorf teachers tell a painting story before they start painting. You can try it if you like. In my experience, the children are so excited to start painting, that I often just sing the rainbow song and maybe tell a really short story and then start painting.
I usually don’t give the children the brushes or paints until I’m ready for them to start painting–I do have everything ready to go, though before we start!
I did share some painting stories with my last class in Chicago. They were stories about Rainbow Land. I’d sing the song and then tell these little stories–I’ve shared a few on the blog.
Rainbow Land: the golden fairy
How many colors should you use?
I always started wet-on-wet painting with my classes with one color. Since we started in September, and it was still summer, we started with yellow. This was my progression through the year (except for special occasions when I might bring in more colors)
- September–yellow (1 color)
- October–red (1 color)
- October-November (I often started this around Halloween)–red and yellow (2 colors)
- December-January blue
- Late-January-February or early March blue and red (with some plain red around Valentine’s day)
- March-June red, yellow and blue
I did this with my mixed age classes. With my parent-child classes, we often only used 1 or 2 colors. The littlest ones will usually paint until all of the paint is gone (a good reason to not give them too much paint!). If you do use three colors–which is fine–expect them to end up with a brown painting. This is a good reminder for us adults that this is about the process not the product.
As the children get older–and for you, too–the colors will be mixed more purposefully. It’s fun to watch the colors mix and change.