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Activity 1 - Abstract Watercolor Technique 1 - Wet on Wet
For this and the following activity, we are going to play with watercolors and stretch the capabilities of our paint. Most of these techniques generate abstract designs, but they can also enhance portraits or other more realistic paintings.
What you need:
Your watercolor paint set
Your brushes
A cup of water
Your watercolor paper
A plastic bag, newspaper, or cardboard to place under your painting, to help keep your mess from ruining anything at home
Begin by mixing your chosen watercolors with some extra water, getting them to be thinned out and easy to paint with (don’t start painting just yet!). Next, we are going to wet our paper. Take a clean brush, dip it into your cup of water and brush across all of the paper getting it nice and soaked with a thin layer of water. Now, while your paper is still wet, begin to paint with your chosen colors, allowing the paint to spread naturally and the colors to blend. If you want your abstract painting to be more blended and soft, continue to brush more water throughout the paints already on the paper. Allow your painting plenty of time to dry. This technique will create a cool abstract, almost Tie-Dye looking painting.
Activity 2 - Abstract Watercolor Technique 2 - Blowing Paint
What you need:
Your watercolor paint set
Your brushes
A cup of water
Your watercolor paper
A plastic bag, newspaper, or cardboard to place under your painting, to help keep your mess from ruining anything at home
Begin by choosing your colors and adding water to make them nice and flowy; you will probably need to add more water than you think. Next, take your brush and paint a small pool of your chosen color on the paper. Then get close to the pool of color and use your mouth to blow the pool of watercolor. Blow quickly and with force. This will spread the watercolor out creating a spider-like abstract pattern. Play around with the force and direction of your blow to create different patterns.
Activity 3 - Practicing Transparency (Or Opacity)
This activity is a practice to enhance your skills at using watercolor paints. It will help improve your future watercolor paintings.
What you need:
Your watercolor paint set
A brush
A cup of water
Your watercolor paper
A plate, pallette, some cups, or another whatever container you can find to mix colors and water
A plastic bag, newspaper, or cardboard to place under your painting, to help keep your mess from ruining anything at home
For this activity you are going to pick one color. You will paint 10 squares of this same color, each square getting slightly more transparent (leave a small space between each square so they don’t completely blend). You want to add a little more water to the color each time in order to make it more transparent/lighter. Your first square will be the darkest, and it should barely require any water. Your last square will barely contain any paint.
This property of paints and other pigments is called Opacity. The darker the paint the more opaque it will be, the lighter and more watered-down the less opaque. This exercise may seem quite easy and simple, but the more gradual and perfect your transitions are from each square to the next, the better a watercolor painter you’ll be. Work on mastering this, and feel free to try it with multiple colors!
Activity 4 - Pour Painting
Pour painting is a great way to make cool abstract pieces. It is also a bit messy and super fun! We’re going to show you how to pour paint with your watercolors.
What you need:
Your watercolor paint set
A brush
A cup of water
Your watercolor paper
A plastic bag, newspaper, or cardboard to place under your painting, to help keep your mess from ruining anything at home.
A cup or container to catch the drips
Begin by painting water on your paper, (similar to the Wet on Wet technique we learned in Activity 1). Paint a thin layer of water across the entire page. Next choose your colors and mix them with a good amount of water. Then you’ll begin to pour the colors onto the canvas to create abstract patterns. Play around with the height you pour from, and the thickness or opacity of the paints you are pouring. You can then lift the paper up and move it around in the air to make the paint move across the paper. Use your container here to catch and drips coming off the paper.
Once your painting has dried, feel free to add a new layer and keep experimenting.
Activity 5 - Symmetry Painting
This painting technique can create some great abstract or representational images. For our example, we are going to paint a butterfly, but feel free to play around and try other things.
What you need:
Your watercolor paint set
Your brushes
A cup of water
Your watercolor paper
A plastic bag, newspaper, or cardboard to place under your painting, to help keep your mess from ruining anything at home
Start by folding your watercolor paper in half, making a crease thru the center. Next, you are only going to paint on one side of the fold. (We’ll go with the left side for this example.) Begin painting half of a butterfly, as if it was split down the middle. Draw the left wing and one antenna coming off to the left as well. While your paint is still wet, fold the paper back in half and press it together for a few seconds. This will create a print of the second half of your butterfly, completing the image. You can adjust how much water you are using in your paint to achieve better results. And remember to have fun with it and try abstract images too!
Activity 6 - Outlining Edges
What you need:
Your Watercolors
A cup of water
Your Brushes
Paper
A Pencil
Begin by watering down your chosen colors so that they are nice and flowy. Next paint droplets on the paper and let them move in the direction and ways they naturally do. Let your painting fully dry. Once your painting is fully dry, take your pencil and outline the edges of the shapes the watercolor paint created. Play around with the different designs, and see if you can even create creatures or other subjects from the abstract shapes.
KEEP YOUR EYE OUT FOR MORE FUN ACTIVITIES ON INSTAGRAM!
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