May 13, 2013
by Megan Schiller
Collaborative Painting Project
With mother’s day coming up, I thought it would be fun to do a project with my daughter, Karuna. If both of us worked on something together, we could make a special gift for all the moms in our family- for me, my mother, as well as my husband’s mother.
Karuna recently suggested a game where we would work on our own painting and then switch to work on each other’s painting. I thought this would be the perfect way to collaborate on these mother’s day gifts. Inspired by Playful Learning’s mixed media project, we started by taking a photo of Karuna’s arm against a white wall. I printed out the photo on watercolor paper (after cutting it down to the standard 8.5×11″)
We got out our Watercolor Resist Supply kit, along with an extra set of brushes, and picked some flowers from the garden for our bouquet inspiration.
Starting with beeswax crayons, we each began working on drawing the flowers. Karuna was in control of switching and would call out “switch” after we worked for a few minutes. We switched papers, drew a little more, and then started painting before switching again.
The beauty of the “resist” technique is that the crayon drawing shows through the watercolors when painted over.
We were both excited to see the finished pieces. This was the first time Karuna and I had collaborated on a painting since she was a toddler. I had a blast and I think it made an impression on Karuna. I often forget that modeling art is important. It doesn’t matter what the art looks like, just showing our kids that we can let go and enjoy the creative process will help them to do the same.
