Create your own bird wall art

In this kids lesson Joe creates some fun wall art with Watercolor Paint, Watercolor paper and a pair of scissors. It would be a great classroom or family activity and would look great on a wall. So grab your art materials and let's get into it!

Step 1. Painting the sheets.

In this step we need to apply watercolor to a sheet of watercolour paper. Cover the whole sheet with paint and make it as colourful and as interesting as you can. Watch the video that accompanies this lesson, for a full demonstration of all techniques, but I will outline a few of the techniques below.

1) Wax resist. With this method first draw onto the sheet of paper with a wax based crayon and then paint onto the paper. You will notice the paint won’t be able to come into contact with the paper wherever the crayon has been drawn.

2) Applying salt. With this technique the artist drops ordinary salt into the wet paint. This creates interesting patterns in the paint as it dries.

3) Scratching. In this technique the artist scratches the surface of the paper prior to adding paint to the surface.

4) Wet in wet. With this technique the artist covers the surface of the paper with water. Then drop very fluid paint into this wet surface. As you drop more colours in they will mix together creating new colours.

5) Lifting out colour. With this technique the artist dabs the wet surface with a tissue. This creates an interesting light spot due to some of the colour being lifted out. This is great for suggesting clouds.

6) Creating runs. To get this affect, lay some very fluid colour onto the page and then tip the sheet up so that the colour runs.

Once the sheets have been painted let them dry.

Step 2. Gluing on the silhouette.

In the last 3 pages of this PDF are 3 sets of bird silhouettes. Print these out. Squeeze out some Mont Marte Craft Glue into a deep well plastic palette. Using a large gesso brush apply a thin coat of glue over the back of the watercolour sheets and lay the silhouette print on it. Weigh this with a book until it dries. Repeat this for each sheet. Let these dry. This will take 2 - 3 hours.

Step 3. Cutting out the birds.

Once the sheets are dry. Cut out the birds with some scissors.

Step 4. Applying the birds. Apply a small ball of Blue Tac to the back of each bird and gently press it into position.

Hint: Because there is a lot of water added to the sheet it can buckle and bow. In most cases the solution is to stretch the paper and tape it down. The simple solution is to hold the page flat with the end of the paintbrush.