"okay, so you tried spreading the paint around with a dry brush, you know how that feels...now see what happens when you add more water...see how the color moves on the paper...now try making a straight line...now a wavy line...now make a pool of plain water on part of your paper and put a drop of paint in it, watch what happens...and what does it look like if you dip your brush in water, then in a color, then in water again, and let it drip onto the paper? how about if you take a wad of paper towel and blot it on? what if you wet the paper towel a little first? okay now with your brush again, try mixing colors, either on your paper or in the palette...try with more water, less water...just experiment! see what you can do with it! all the different possibilities..."
patiently and energetically my fellow volunteer and passionate teaching artist, Miss N., gave these instructions and modeled what she meant, as the children listened and followed along at our most recent session of the Camden Peace Art Project. i followed, too! i never knew there were so many variations of techniques and textures to be explored in the wonderful world of watercolors.
and afterwards we went home and were somehow inspired to cut apart N.'s creations from that session, rearrange them on poster-board, and then she painted more watercolor between them to bring them together, and inscribed Langston Hughes poems over them. what wisdom. what peace. what wildness. :)
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