Drawing With Paint

MY FIVE FAVORITE THEMES TO DRAW WITH PAINT

Drawing with paint and paintbrush creates less dependence on erasers.  Some kids will erase more than they draw. Having no choice but to think about what you are painting is good practice.  We can draw the foundation with paint and then when dry go back to the project and fill in or add more with tempera or some other media.

Usually I will pass out only one color of paint for drawing. If I have a lot of purple, then that’s the color we use! Using one color to draw also eliminates brush washing between color changes. When the drawing is dry, next class, we will add more paint, use oil pastel, pastel, crayons or markers to fill in the spaces and add details.

1. FIGURES: Paint people shapes with peach and brown tempera. Add clothing with papers and construction paper, details with markers.
2. ANIMALS: Using one color, paint animals part by part. Body, head, neck, legs, tail and ears. I have used the dot paint markers to fill in the body.
3. PORTRAITS: Paint a face, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, neck.
4. SNAKES:  Paint the snake shape and then use other colors for patterns or stripes. Usually for this we would use tempera cakes or watercolor pans.
5. NUMBERS AND LETTERS: Using tempera cakes, choose a letter or number, choose a color and paint. Students also practice washing brush to change color. I will usually have a child give me the letter or number to paint, and will let the kids choose the color they want to use.