Watercolour leaf paintings
This is such a simple activity to do but gives amazing results. It’s suitable for children and adults of all ages - you really can’t go wrong!
What you will need:
A selection of leaves and grasses
Watercolour paper
Large paintbrushes
A dropper is great to use if you have one!
Watercolour paints
Jar of water
Masking tape / washi tape (optional)
What you need to do:
First you’ll need to gather some leaves and grasses. Go for a walk and see what different types you can find! You only need a few of each, depending on how many paintings you want to make.
It’s good to have a few leaves that will lie flat as you’ll get more detail in the prints from where the veins and edges make contact with the paper. If you want to, you can flatten your leaves and grasses when you get home for a few hours or overnight. I didn’t with this painting so you can see some of the leaves left more detail than the others but I think it resulted in some nice variation in the finished painting.
Once you’re ready to paint, gather all of your supplies. If you want your painting to have a border, then stick some masking or washi tape around the edges.
Using a large paintbrush, brush water on your paper so it completely covers the sheet of paper, making sure that the paper is saturated.
Then choose a paint colour to paint onto the paper and then place your first leaf on the paint. Add more paint around the outline of your leaf. It’s important to add lots of water with your paint as it helps the paint settle around the edges and where parts of the leaf touches the paper to make the beautiful prints. Also, if the paper isn’t wet, the leaves and grasses won’t stick!
If you have a dropper, you can use it to drop the paint around the edges of the leaf which might be easier for younger children.
Carry on adding more paint and more leaves and grasses to your paper. Make sure that the paper around where you are working is wet by adding water with your brush or dropper if you need to.
Leave your painting to dry somewhere it won’t be disturbed.
Once the paint has completely dried, you can start peeling away the leaves and grasses to reveal the prints underneath. This is so satisfying and it’s magical to see how the details of the leaves and grasses have printed onto the paper!
If you have masking tape on the edge of your paper, carefully peel it away to reveal a nice clean border around your beautiful painting.
Author: Denise Hope, home educating mum of two boys
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