My own art journey with watercolors has started while playing me paint while my daughter was playing with paints of her own. So it’s only natural for use to continue to paint together!

A few of these posts will be released as a less-than-perfect series (for me anyhow). I tend to over edit things, but I feel those posts might be useful to a bunch of people stuck at home… so I’ll make them more perfect later (maybe!).

It all started at Ikea, where we picked up a watercolor set and some gouache. They are very affordable so I thought that it would be good for “wasting”. I did not know all of the adventure that would unfold after these simple suppliest I was mesmerized by the colors mixing in the water. That’s when I started the whole watercolor adventure.

online tutorials

We have looked at many online tutorials together. We usually sit together in front of the computer and try them together, each on our own paper. If my daughter needs help, I pause, help her and we continue.

As you probably know if you’ve see Skillshare mentioned a lot everywhere, it is a paying subscription service. Some classes are sometimes free, it’s worth to take a look. Also, if you ever sign up with my link (or just by typing skillshare.com in google) you will find a 2 month try out period. The links in this article contains this offer for you, and a small commission for me at no cost to you if you sign up through there.

Here are a few of the classes and tutorials we loved to the most.

• Classes by Em Winn on Skillshare. Geared towards a young audience, they are fun to make as an adult as well. We each make our own version and often exchange them after the class. This one Draw and paint a watercolor hummingbird in a wildflower garden was a blast!
• Arthub for Kids on Youtube. This channel is a dad who draws different things with one of his kids. You can then see the difference between the adult’s drawing and the kids drawing, and they do put a lot of emphasis on “it’s ok, you are learning”. We made a lot of these: shopkins, ponies, halloween monsters, …
• The prompts from the Paint Yourself Happy Challenge initiated by Simone from Studio Artisjok. These were a joy to make together. Collages especially. The kid has no fear of tearing through stuff!
• Kolbie Blume (@thiswritingdesk on instagram) made a very fun Watercolor galaxies class for kids that you can make either with markers or watercolors. Both methods were very fun!
• We also had a blast making the backgrounds in Fun and easy watercolor backgrounds from Ayesha Ansari on Skillshare. Even if the class isn’t tailored to children, it was simple enough to follow for both of us.

the materials

At the beginning, we were both using the same materials…. the Ikea stuff. But then, I started buying some “good stuff”. And my daughter was 3 at the time…. so she didn’t get to try my new stuff.

Then, I found the better stuff and what a difference. So she got my “good stuff” (a pebeo 12 color set that I never liked much). But she soon wanted to try my better stuff.

But I kind of cringed everytime she mixed the colors in the half pans of my favorite artisanal makers… But then I saw this video from Josie Lewis where she cleans a palette under the tap and kind of let go of my concerns over my paint.

Around Christmas time, we went to buy her a small palette and some half pans. She also got to choose a few van Gogh colors. And she chose colors for her first palette for herself. I shared it on instagram and we had an amazing conversation over there about sharing our supplies with our kids!

Brushes and paper though are another story! I’m starting to educate her as to how to use brushes. And slowly but surely she is learning how to softly load a brush and not kill it it the process. She also yelled at my mom who let a craft brush stand in water, so she is on the right track!

what I learned by making art with my kid

I have this piece in my office cubicle that I love so much. Because for one it is beautiful. But also, she was so concentrated when she made it… one color at a time, with intention. And then at one point, she exclaimed “It’s finished”. It was a little magical.

There is this quote I keep seeing from Picasso (I’d love to know if it is true) :

It took me four years to paint like Rapahael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.

Pablo Picasso

All of the advice we hear about “how to paint” or “how to find your style” often center around the following:

• make a lot of art, bad or good, not important, but a lot will be bad
• enjoy the process
• play
• do it for the process
• do not think of the end result
• do what you like
• know the rules to break them
• experimenting, to see what might happen if…

If you ever painted with a child, you’ll see that these are all of the things they do!

So play with paint with your little ones. Even if you feel you are “wasting” some materials. You should be doing that yourself anyways! And believe me. I know how hard it is to feel you are wasting stuff. But instead, think of it as practice. And teach them a thing or too about using the stuff properly, but not to much about “how to make art”.

Watch them, play along them. And I’m sure you will learn a thing of two. At the very least, you guys will have fun!

and now…

My kid is now making me painting classes, helping me choosing colors to add to painting, when she isn’t directing the whole thing. Here are a few examples.

word of the end

Go paint with your kids! They are so open to listening, and so creative. You will learn a lot from them, I am so sure of it!