Autumn Bloom Tree – Watercolour Experiment

I have no real talent (or learned skill) when it comes to painting.  However, I’m a fan of art and creativity in general, and I want to foster an appreciation of such things in my children.

We use watercolours more than any other paint because it’s relatively mess free and easy to clean up. I’ve done many painting activities with the kids over the years, like zip lock bag painting, basic brush techniques, finger painting, body painting and general project painting.  Now that my children are a little older, I’m looking for ways for them to extend and combine the mediums we have (like watercolours plus texters).

While browsing the Internet, I came across a Triad Tree painting by artist June Rollins and I put it in my pretty-to-look-at-but-not-doable pile. That was until I read the relevant post.  The tutorial looked so achievable I immediately decided to give it a shot with the kids.

What I love about this project is that it uses the three primary colours to achieve the autumn bloom look so there’s the mixing-colours learning aspect too.  This tutorial is quite long, but don’t be fooled by all the pictures: it is achievable and the outcome is amazing!  I went into more detail here (compared to June’s tutorial) because I learned things while doing it that will help in instructing the activity for children.

I am STOKED that I painted that picture above. It’s a fun activity for all ages and I love that. LOVE. Love when we all do an activity together, and I’m not merely a facilitator or observer but participate and enjoy it as much as the kids.

Materials

You can get these materials from discount shops, K Mart, Big W, Target, Officeworks and art shops.

Watercolour paper

Watercolour paint – Primary Colours: Yellow, Red & Blue

Brushes

Water spray bottle

You only need two brushes for painting and one to aid in splattering.

Step 1

Set the water bottle to a fine mist, and spray the blank paper (just so it’s slightly damp; just a few sprays)

Step 2

Saturate the small round brush with yellow paint, and hit the brush against the handle of another larger brush (or other suitable instrument) to splatter paint on the paper.  Dots of paint will flick over the page.

Tip:

Keep in mind a rough triangle tree shape (allowing for the trunk) on the page as you flick paint.  You can’t completely control where the flicks go but you can adjust where to hold the brush over the page to distribute the flecks.

The children practiced on regular paper before we started our trees.

Step 3

The idea is to keep splattering paint until you have the general shape and enough spots.

FIRST: Start with Yellow

NEXT: Then Red

LAST: Finally Blue

Step 4

Next is where the colours mix.  This is important: you need to adjust the water bottle spray nozzle from fine mist to somewhere in the middle.  The water needs to come out in droplets.  Too fine a mist and it won’t work as well, and if the spray is too direct, the colours won’t mix so delicately.

We experimented a little and found it best to hold the bottle directly above the paper about 10 cm.  Then gently pull the trigger in a controlled way, distributing the paint and mixing the colours.  Do this in sections on the page until you’re happy with the result.  We only had to spray about 3 times. Don’t over spray because you want to keep some definition there.

Step 5

Don’t touch the painting, or use a brush at this point.  Leave it and allow the paint to air-dry naturally for the colours to mix and settle (takes about an hour).

Step 6

Once dry, paint the branches in.  I found this a bit tricky, and did two attempts; much better the second time around (pictured below).  I’ll break down what I learned and how I instructed the children.

Shape

LOOK FIRST.  Draw an imaginary mid line with v like branches going out in your head.

Brush

PRACTICE: Using the square brush, practice on a piece of paper first.  I found it best to wet the brush with paint (using less water) and press down with the top of the brush rather than stroke.  So press down, move the brush, press down.  This gives a more rustic looking branch.

This is my seven-year-old working on some branches.

Paint

After a few practices, start on the tree.  The children and I studied June Rollins’ tree for inspiration and then got to work. (Isn’t it gorgeous!?)

1. Paint in parts of a trunk peeking out from the leaves (leave the tree base/trunk part to last; that way you won’t smudge paint as you work on branches).  The trunk gets a little smaller each section until the top.

2. Place branches sporadically up and out from the trunk (using an imaginary V as a loose guide).  One thing I noticed and implemented the second time around was the effect of drawing a section of branch, leaving a small space (of leaves) and continuing the branch.  This way, it looks like the branch is weaving its way in and out of the leaves. Here’s a close up of what I mean.

3. Study the paint droplets, and use them as a general guide to where you want to run the branches up the tree.

4. Using the small round brush again, paint in the trunk and the ground.  After painting it in, I wet the brush with water (no paint) and ran it over the painted section.  I used a lighter brown over the top of the root area, and again, used a wet brush to disturb the paint.

One thing I learned while doing this is to try NOT to make the lines too perfect. Feel it. Relax. It’s awesome.  Right at the end, I used the square brush again to line one side of the tree and add a few finishing details.

Here’s the children’s finished pictures; we are all rather thrilled with the result. How cool is Mr 6’s blue tree with the cute branches sticking out the side!

 

I have also done this with a class, and I had trunks already printed to make it easier. There’s a template below and you can print this directly onto watercolour paper. Then you use the foliage splatter pattern over the top.

Autumn Triad Tree

So that’s the long tutorial…or here’s the short version. And then just go for it, make mistakes and learn as you go (like I did). Check out June Rollins’ tutorial and artwork too.

Variation for Young Children

A variation of this idea would work as an activity for very young children: do the dots and then let them loose with the water spray on the grass outside to see what colours they can make. And then make your own tree and feel proud as punch at such a gorgeous creation. I did! And if I can do it, anyone can! It was good for the soul! Oh, I adore trees!

Miss 7 did a few different trees, and to this one, she added to the scene.  What a happy looking picture!

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Posts about trees

Activities celebrating Autumn