Paint Prep and Organization

The children are finally understanding the concept of needing to keep their paint colors separate in order to not end up with everything a muddy shade of brown. They are trying to clean their brush in between colors. I decided to celebrate by finally splurging on a wider variety of paint colors and not depending on mixing our own every time. It's pretty easy to get a decent green/orange/purple that way, but other colors are harder.

I ordered enough of these paint trays so that we could have a full set of 12 colors for each of us (mom, Ava, and Michael) of both washable liquid tempera paints and washable liquid watercolor paints. Then I stocked up on 12 colors of each. Now that I can save the paint in between uses in the paint trays, I should have enough paint for the next decade.

When everything arrived I dispensed the liquid tempera into the trays. Isn't it pretty? We have three trays like this.

Then it was time for the liquid watercolors. (Tip: Instead of peeling off the entire plastic seal that keeps it from spilling during shipping, just stick a pin through the hole in the lid to puncture the seal. So much less mess.) I quickly realized that the children were going to have a lot of trouble figuring out which colors are which with the liquid watercolors (kind of like food coloring, the color of the liquid in the bottle doesn't always match the color when used). My husband helped out and painted strips of watercolor paper with each color. When they dried we cut them in triangles and used mod podge to glue them beside each pot of paint. Hopefully the picture will make it clear. Now the kids will be able to tell which color is which.

I've been scouring the internet for projects using liquid watercolors and I'm planning to do liquid watercolor projects with the kids for the next few weeks. Consider that a warning - be prepared for lots of posts on liquid watercolor projects coming soon.