Abstract Art with Kids

Your comments on my last post are so supportive. It never ceases to surprise me every single time when an outpouring of support comes in on certain posts, how much it really affects me and makes me feel better. Thank you.

One other project I attempted to do with Oscar last week was some abstract painting. Selfishly I wanted some art for the house, and I love the look of black and white art - but wanted to do it with Oscar as I though it would be fun, but I also thought having a child beside me would make me loosen up my brush strokes. Kids are awesome at not caring what a final piece looks like, so Oscar was my support in "loosening up". ;) The results were ridiculously awesome in my opinion and I want to frame them all through my house.

Here is what we used to do it: 
1. Watercolour Paper (It's expensive for a kids project but the thickness of the paper is beautiful)
2. Black acrylic paint
3. Old Bowl / Tin (See top photo)
4. Big Paint Brushes (Dollar Store)

Getting the paint right:
All I did was watered down the black acrylic paint with some water to make it slightly more of a watercolour vs. acrylic paint - I knew we'd get some more variation in colour that way. I originally thought I'd buy black watercolour paint but a small tube was ridiculously expensive. So I opted for the acrylic. Kids art paint seemed to thin, and I worried it wouldn't dry nicely. So I opted for acrylic that sits on the middle in terms of cost.

The watercolour paper is really beautiful - and I thought is we were to frame a piece, having a nice paper would be beautiful. Plus, the watered down paint sits beautifully on watercolour paper. So that's something I think is integral in the success of this.

I did one piece to show Oscar he could do whatever he wanted and talked about abstract paintings. But he didn't really care. So then it was just the two of us splashing paint on paper. Oscar painted a piece of the paper ALL black which at first I tried to stop but then was like, whatever, because that's what painting is all about. We got some awesome pieces out of the event and one ended up framed in our living room (that I'm still updating...sloooowly)

Anyhow, I thought I'd post it as it was a ridiculously easy project to do, but the tricks of the watercolour paper and the acrylic paint I thought were worthwhile highlighting.

xo Linds