Mini Museum/Project No. 5: Watercolor and Pen Abstract Painting

For the fifth Mini Museum, we created abstract paintings out of watercolor, ink, and thread. Our inspiration was the artwork by Heather Smith Jones.

ARTWORK BY HEATHER SMITH JONEs

This project took about 4 hours, 2 sessions, and a few practice sheets. We spent a good amount of time practicing watercolor washes, and even more time playing with shapes and patterns. In the end, my 10 year old and I completed our paintings, while my 6 year old stopped at the washes. For now, I'm just happy to have her participate, especially with the more complicated and detailed projects!

SUPPLIES:

Watercolors: We used Kuretake and Dick Blick liquid watercolors
Arches Hot Press 140lb Watercolor Paper cut in 5"x12" sheets
Watercolor Brushes
Copic Waterproof Multiliner Pens in .5 and .3

STEP ONE: THINK OF AN IDEA

For this step, we thought of an idea, a feeling, or a message that we wanted to communicate. How would we share this idea using a mix of colors, words, and images?

For my 10 year old, she is a believer and an idealist. She chooses to believe in things that she may never see. This was the message she wanted to paint.

For me, I recently lost my mom and wanted to share the feeling of comfort I have in knowing that her love still surrounds us.

STEP TWO: ALLOW YOUR PAINTING TO UNFOLD

Start with light washes of overlapping color, organic or geometric. Drips and splatters work great too. Choose colors that match the mood of your idea
When the first wash is dry, start to layer darker washes of color, pen drawings, patterns, and words. Allow your thoughts to unfold and add them to your painting, building them up in layers

STEP THREE: ATTACH EXTRA PIECES

With another sheet of watercolor paper, tear or cut out shapes, paint them, and attach them to your painting for more texture and dimension
Attach the loose pieces with glue, sewing or hand stitching. We used black thread and went crazy with our sewing machine