Painting Day

Tuesday is painting day at our house. Sariah loves to paint, and by doing it on a specific day every week, I can make sure she gets the chance. I've decided, for now, to stick with watercolor painting each time. When Dallin was this age, I tried to do art and craft projects several times a week, but it got overwhelming because I was trying to do too many different things. This is much easier!

Investing in these paint boards has made painting so much less work! I got them at www.naturetable.com. They were only about $7 apiece, and now I don't have to drag out all the newspaper every time we paint. I am using Waldorf wet-on-wet techniques for Sariah's painting experiences. The point is to focus on the color experience, not to "make something". First, we soak the paper (heavy, good-quality watercolor paper) in the sink for 15 minutes, then we sponge off the excess water with a sponge.

I also got a good-quality 1-inch paintbrush, and I've been trying to teach Sariah how to use it respectfully. It's been an interesting, yet fun process to teach her how to use the tools appropriately without inhibiting her fun. As is typical in Waldorf education, this teaching is done through stories. So we have Peter Paintbrush, and we must use him gently or we'll hurt his beard (bristles). And Peter Paintbrush must take a bath (be dipped in the cup of water) every time he changes clothes (changes colors), and then he needs to be dried off gently with a towel (blotted on a small towel). Sariah loves talking about Peter Paintbrush, and she's slowly but surely learning how to use him.

We only use three colors of paint, red, yellow, and blue. This way, the child can learn firsthand how those colors combine to create all the other colors. Last week we painted with only one color, red, as Waldorf resources often recommend at first. I wasn't sure how that would go over, but Sariah actually did quite well with it and didn't get bored. This time, we did red and yellow so we could create fall colors. In a few weeks we'll cut the paintings into leaf shapes. And next week, we'll paint with blue and yellow to make green, which will be leaves for the apples we'll cut from our red paintings.