Help me implement painting projects in an effortless way

[krazzymommy]

So we started today (CtC & Bigger) and it went great. I peeked ahead to tomorrow and noticed both kids have painting projects.....yay (says the very un-artistic mom)! I could really use some ideas on how to make the painting projects not become huge ordeals. Younger daughter (in Bigger) handles independent work better than my son (CtC) who will turn this project into a PROJECT. What are some ideas to make these go quickly? (Not rushing, but not taking half the day!) I'm open to any advice - from actual execution to storing supplies, any words of wisdom!!!!

Thanks!

[Nealewill]

When we first started CtC, we actually moved paintings to Saturday mornings for the first few units. My oldest seems to get a bit overwhelmed sometimes and she did with these paintings. For my dd - I did actually invest in REALLY nice brushes. I bought each one individually at the recommended size and each was wonderful. However - when we first started I really needed to do the painting side by side with her. So I went to both Hobby Lobby and Michaels looking for set and found Michaels had some similar stuff on clearance. It wasn't necessarily perfect for water color but it was cheap! I spent enough already LOL. But I did each painting with her so that she could see and understand what the guide was saying. That was fun too We did this for about a 1/3 of the year. However, eventually the painting times made it into the day of the week scheduled in the guide. On days of painting at that point, I usually made sure to clean off the table, put the table cloth down (we just have a cheap plastic table cloth for the dining room table that we use for art), get out her paint tray, I taped her paper to a foam core bored using green frog tape, and got her brushes out. I set all this up on the table right after breakfast. She didn't do painting right at that time but it was set up so that she could do painting. When she was ready, she got out the water bowl and brought her manual. At first, I still stayed near by to answer any questions she had. And when she was done painting, she had to clean it all up - including washing the brushes and such. This happened for another third of the year. Then, the final third, she did it all by herself except I still taped down the paper on the foamcore board for her. Other than that, she did it all.

As for storage of the supplies, we used the liquid paint and had the large recommended paint tray the guide suggests but an artist friend of mine suggested that we take a large glop of each color, glop it into the tray and let it dry. We decided to go that route and I was so glad I did! Before doing this, I felt like we wasted a lot of paint because sometimes my dd would get too much and sometimes not enough. Then she would add more and it would be too much. We were always washing paint down the drain. With water color paint though, you can let it dry and just revive it water. Then, you can mix the colors in the large flat area of the tray. Once you are done, you take a paper towel and wipe out the center. If you need more paint in an individual tray, then you just add more of the wet paint into the tray and let it dry. It was great. I will also say, investing in the correct supplies goes a long way. I know many moms bought sets from Hobby Lobby for their kids to use. I also know that if you don't buy the correct paper, it won't work out. We decided upon the 11x15 size paper. At times I wish we would have purchased the one down but the larger ones worked out just fine. We also purchased a portfolio that could hold up to 48 pages, 11x17 size, from Hobby Lobby as well to store our finished paintings.

For my kids in Bigger, we also do their art projects at the table with the table cloth. Anything I can save, I store it in their school binder. I don't always use page protectors because that can make your book too thick. But I do like to buy thicker, multi-media paper and I use that for most art projects if any type of painting is involved. I found it works better and lasts a bit longer than computer paper. The only challenge is that the multi-media paper doesn't come in 8.5x11 so I normally will cut each page down to that size before we start our project so that I can store it in the binder when we are finished.

[school4princesses]

My DD loves to do the painting projects. Unfortunately, she is so ADHD that getting the rest of her work done is difficult. Last week, I used the painting as a motivator to get the rest of her work completed. She couldn't paint until everything else was done and turned in. It worked last week. We'll have to see if it works as well this week.

[krazzymommy]

Thank you, ladies! I appreciate the responses! They encourage me that we can do this; very helpful.