CTC - watercolor instructions, plz help!

[SouthernMrs]

Hi Ladies,
I'm afraid I must admit that I do NOT know how to use the watercolors for painting in the poetry instructions.
My dd tried to do the background painting yesterday, but I feel like we wasted more paint than we used.
I purchased tubes of watercolor paint from Miller Pads and Paper. They do not come with any instructions.
We squeezed some yellow out onto the palette. Then dunked the brush into the water and loaded the brush with watercolor paint. Then she painted a couple of lines across the paper and dipped her brush into the water bowl again. The instructions said to only wet the tip and wipe twice before painting the next section without reloading paint and continue in this manner. Well, I think more paint went into the water bowl than onto the paper. How much paint should we squeeze out and do we mix it with water first? or use it like we did straight from the palette? One tube of yellow is almost gone in one lesson. Please help!

[mamaloves4]

Hi!

I was a little nervous about painting too, but I found the extra instructions in the introduction of the manual to be helpful. We did this project and my dd was so excited about how it turned out. I only used a little yellow paint (we bought the tubes, too). I figured I could always add more paint to the palette, but wouldn't be able to put the extra back into the tube.

I hope your painting goes better for you tomorrow!

jess

[Tansy]

Did you get a water color pallet? If you didn't get one, you can use a foam egg carton cut it down tho. A water color pallet has ridges so you can mix up the strength and tint of color you want with the amount of water you want. water colors are very fluid and are meant to be washed out.
I don't have the ctc manuel but a very small amount of water color paint can go a long way. If you do have a strong mix of paint on your brush dipping just a bit of water would give you a light to dark type of stroke. If you use a standard flat pallet the water will run every where as you are loosening up the paint...

its hard to describe in words. take a look at this guy maybe he will help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RvUSobt ... playnext=1

or this guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBRmfYD ... C6&index=8

[8arrows]

It takes less paint if you paint the paper with water first. That is what we did (possibly not "correct", but it worked for us), and my daughter's turned out very nicely.

[SouthernMrs]

Thank you, Ladies, for the help. I'll take a look at the videos. And thanks for the tip of wetting the paper first. We'll try that next time.
The palette I bought does have edges and several different sized "wells" for mixing paint. We chose to put a small amount into one of the large square areas, but since we used the biggest flat brush, it wasn't enough paint to go all the way across the top of her page. She added more paint to the palette and picked it up with her brush so she could get coverage across the paper, but as I mentioned it seemed like when we dipped the brush into the water it was more yellow than the paper! She did finally get her background painting done. She has a bright yellow top and a lighter bottom, not really any fading in-between though. Well, we are BOTH learning watercolors this year!
Thanks again!

[my3sons]

HI Charlene!
Good question - With painting in the past for HOD projects, I've learned less is more. I used to put a ton of paint in the palette wells, but have now stopped as I was throwing a lot of paint away at the end. It's amazing to me how far a little paint will go! I haven't started CTC yet, but having read through the Introduction and plans (more than a few times since I'm the editor ), the plans give good details about how to do the painting techniques (i.e. loading the brush, when to wet the paper, how to blend colors, etc.). I think if we are following the Introduction and the plans, and our dc are doing the best they can, that fills the need of artistic exploration. I know we'll have some mess-ups, and my ds's art will probably not look as great as some other dc's art (because that has never been his thing ) - but that's alright. The goal is to learn some new painting techniques and create a project that looks different than the next kiddo's project. I just want to encourage you that any exploration with painting is a good thing! I'm assuming it will be like any other new skill my ds is learning - not so great at first, better in the middle of the year, and the best at the end. I hope that helps take the pressure off a bit!

In Christ,
Julie

[SouthernMrs]

Hi Julie,
Thanks for the reassuring note. Yes, dd did her poetry project and finished painting it today, so we are satisfied and she enjoyed the painting activity.
I guess since I am such a visual person it is just more difficult for me to "see" what we're supposed to be doing sometimes. Especially with unfamiliar things, and since I know absolutely nothing about watercoloring (my only experience is with those Crayola or Rose Art plastic strips of hard cakes you buy for painting by numbers... ) I just wanted to make sure we were mixing the paints correctly. I guess I need to go back and re-read the introduction, huh! I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment trying to get 2 children back to schooling and even though I know I've read the intro, I've probably missed a key element or two somewhere in the confusion.
Thanks again!

[kissesmomof4]

I took a water color painting class when I was a teenager. The advice given so far is good. You don't need much paint at all.

A good way to get a nice flowing paint is like someone said the wet on wet technique. Use masking tape to tape down your paper to the table you are working on. Use a clean sponge to wipe a small amount of water over the paper, you don't want it too wet. Then paint away.

A really neat thing your child can do is to paint a pretty random design on the wet paper and then sprinkle table salt on it. The salt grains will leave spots when it is dry. Kids love this and it looks really neat.

If you want to get hard lines but want something inside the lines to have that flowing washed look use dry paper. Paint the outline with barely diluted water color paint. Inside the lines use your brush to wet the rest of the area to be painted and paint away. I am not sure if I explained that well or not. I can picture it in my head but you might not be able to

I am not sure what kind of brushes you have but for older kids you might want to get a real natural bristled water color brush. They are really nice and allow you to get a fine line or a larger line with the same brush.

That is pretty much all I remember but this painting talk makes me excited to paint with my kids!

[Carrie]

Charlene,

This is the part from the Introduction of CTC that the ladies are referring to, and may be of help:

Go over the following helpful notes with students prior to doing the
painting lessons for poetry: Use one water container for mixing washes and
one for clear water to rinse brushes. When painting, first wet the brush to prepare
it for the color. Then, load the brush with paint moving it back and forth across the
surface of the paint in the pan. Do not dig into the paint. Use either the plastic lid
of the paints or the mixing surface on the palette to mix the paint. Then, apply it to
watercolor paper. If the paints in the wells get muddy colored, dip the brush into
clean water and dip the brush tip in the paint well to lift out the muddy part of the
color. Or, use a pointed bit of paper towel to lift out the muddy color. Do not stand
brushes on their tips or store them in water overnight.

When done painting for the day, wipe clean the mixing part of the palette and place
the lid over the paints. Clean brushes in cool water, gentle tapping or flicking off
the excess water. Then, dry with a soft cloth or paper towel. Store brushes bristle
side up if possible, or in a brush box.

Blessings,
Carrie

[SouthernMrs]

Hi Carrie,
Thank you for posting that exerpt. Just what I needed to know! I think we were trying to do it correctly then, perhaps our yellow was a bit dried up.
The yellow paint that we tried using came out in a solid "clump" when we squeezed it out (at first just a small bit of liquid came out, then when we realized that was not enough color, she squeezed more and the yellow came out in one solid piece). We wet the paint to smooth it out a bit with the brush, but as I mentioned there was a bunch of paint in the brush at this point. The brown we used today was much more fluid and dd was able to use much less paint. It went on more evenly too, so perhaps it was just the yellow a bit hardened that caused our confusion. Having never seen watercolors in a tube, we did not know.
With the brown paint today she painted her tree trunk and branches as you directed and the paint was much smoother.
Anyway, I appreciate you clarifying for me!
Thanks again,