{"id":312,"date":"2015-09-06T20:22:16","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T20:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/?p=312"},"modified":"2015-09-06T20:23:58","modified_gmt":"2015-09-06T20:23:58","slug":"inspirations-from-a-waldorf-kindergarten-2-painting-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/inspirations-from-a-waldorf-kindergarten-2-painting-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspirations from a Waldorf Kindergarten #2: Painting Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Tuesday morning, none of us were feeling our best.\u00a0 A dental checkup on a resistant toddler had taken its toll on both of us.\u00a0 I don’t know who was more in need of some art therapy– Ember or me!\u00a0 We recuperated with a peaceful afternoon at home.\u00a0 What better time for wet on wet water color painting?\u00a0 This was one of my favorite traditions from the Waldorf kindergarten.<\/p>\n

I remember the ritual well from my days teaching at Brooklyn Waldorf.\u00a0 We would dim the lights, setting out a painting board for each child, and for each, three ramekins of paint– red, yellow and blue.\u00a0 We sang softly as we distributed the brushes.\u00a0 “Rainbow, rainbow.\u00a0 All across the sky you flow.\u00a0 Dive into my colored bowl.\u00a0 Give me up your colors oh.”<\/p>\n

The children worked in an atmosphere of meditative silence, brought on by the dim lighting and quiet singing, sweeping bright, paint-wet brushes over the white paper.\u00a0 Colors mixed and made new colors.\u00a0 Glorious abstractions revealed themselves, like tiny galaxies, self-creating, and in motion.\u00a0 Because the painting is wet, it never stops changing until it is dry.<\/p>\n

I loved looking at the paintings afterwards, to see how even in abstraction, each painting expressed the personality of its creator.\u00a0 Some had exercised enough restraint to leave a few patches of brilliant red or yellow.\u00a0 While others applied the colors with such gusto that rich brown was the inevitable result.\u00a0 All were beautiful.\u00a0 But it wasn’t about the product.\u00a0 In Waldorf early childhood, the process is everything.\u00a0 Unlike in some other early childhood methods, we didn’t display the paintings or talk about them later.\u00a0 The goal is unselfconsciousness and freedom, immersion in a state of flow.<\/p>\n

\"20150825_125731\"<\/a>

Here’s how my painting turned out.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now that I’m a mother, I love to do wet and wet painting at home with Ember.\u00a0 We’ve been doing it for some months now.\u00a0 We started with just one color at a time.\u00a0 This gives us\u00a0the chance to really experience each one.\u00a0 Yellow– exuberant, joyful, enervating.\u00a0 Red– warm, womblike, fiery.\u00a0 Blue– inward, peaceful, melancholy.<\/p>\n

Later, we built up to using two colors, and today, for the first time, all three!\u00a0 Usually we just paint quietly while I sing, although sometimes I tell a\u00a0“color story” as we work.<\/p>\n

\"20150825_124525\"<\/a>

Ember explores yellow.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"20150825_124942\"<\/a>

This was our first time using all three colors in a single session. Ember was so excited!<\/p><\/div>\n

Materials for Wet on Wet Watercolor Painting<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Aprons or old tee shirts<\/strong> to keep paint off clothes<\/li>\n
  2. Good quality watercolor paper<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  3. Painting boards<\/strong>.\u00a0 The painting stays on the board as you paint it, and also while it dries.\u00a0 If you purchase painting boards, make sure they are finished to prevent warping.\u00a0 Or finish them yourself, as I did mine, with some form of more eco friendly varnish.<\/li>\n
  4. Liquid watercolor paints in red, yellow and blue<\/strong>.\u00a0 Many Waldorf schools use the brand Stockmar, but I know there are others that work just as well.<\/li>\n
  5. Small jars or ramekins<\/strong> to mix each color in<\/li>\n
  6. Water jar<\/strong>\u00a0to clean your brush between colors.<\/li>\n
  7. Watercolor brushes<\/strong> for you and your child.<\/li>\n
  8. Optional:\u00a0 Small sponge or rag<\/strong> to dry your brush on after each rinsing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"20150825_125641\"<\/a>

    Mason jars work well for us. Lids allow us to save what we don’t use.<\/p><\/div>\n

    Instructions<\/h2>\n

    1.\u00a0 Cut watercolor paper to desired size, and soak in water<\/strong> for about 10 minutes.\u00a0 I like to round the corners of the paper, as we did in the kindergarten.<\/p>\n

    \"20150825_124031\"<\/a>

    We save water by soaking in a pan close to the size of the paper.<\/p><\/div>\n

    2.\u00a0 Create a peaceful mood<\/strong>.\u00a0 I turn off any bright lights and sing a gentle painting song.\u00a0 You might also light a candle, or put some lavender oil in an aromatherapy diffuser.\u00a0 Think about what you would like to have around you if you were getting a massage in a great spa.\u00a0 Painting day should feel like that.<\/p>\n

    3.\u00a0 Mix the paint<\/strong>.\u00a0 I use a teaspoon or so of pigment to 1\/4 cup water.\u00a0 Even with washing brushes between colors, the colors may get a bit muddy.\u00a0 So for frugality’s sake, it’s good to take out only as much paint as you’re likely to use. \u00a01 tsp pigment dissolved in 1\/4 cup is plenty for a painting session.<\/p>\n

    4. Lay the papers on the painting boards<\/strong>.\u00a0 Holding paper by the sides, lower it gently and slowly to avoid creating air bubbles between the paper and the board.\u00a0 Set out brush and one color of paint.<\/p>\n

    5.\u00a0 Sit down with your child and enjoy painting together<\/strong>!\u00a0 Resist the urge to talk or comment on what your child is doing.\u00a0 The best thing is to just experience the color together.\u00a0 If you’re working with multiple children, and it gets chatty, you might say, “Let’s see if we can quiet our voices, so that we can hear what the colors want to say to us.”<\/p>\n

    After you’ve worked with one color individually for a while, you might feel that it’s time to introduce a second.\u00a0 Sharifa Oppenheimer, in her book Heaven on Earth<\/a>, has some wonderful suggestions for how to introduce the colors in a way that\u00a0follows the seasons.\u00a0 She also describes how to create a “color story” to tell when painting.<\/p>\n

    6.\u00a0 After each color, wash your brushes well<\/strong>.\u00a0 Swish them in your water jar.\u00a0 Then squeeze them out until the water runs clear, or nearly so.\u00a0 Blotting them on a small sponge or rag is also helpful.<\/p>\n

    7.\u00a0 When your child is finished, again resist the urge to comment on what they’ve done.\u00a0 If it feels like you need to say something, focus on the experience you’ve had.\u00a0 “How lovely it was to hear our colors speaking today!” \u00a0It is such a gift for a busy mama and child to have quiet, peaceful moments together. \u00a0Let this activity be one of those moments of peace and calm, and you will both feel renewed by it.<\/p>\n

    8.\u00a0 If you’re like me and don’t like to waste things, there are lots of uses for finished paintings.\u00a0 Greeting cards, envelopes, wrapping paper, mobiles, bookmarks, lanterns, paper Easter baskets, valentines, paper dolls, seasonal decorations and garlands\u2026\u00a0 I have seen wet on wet paintings used for so many things!<\/p>\n

    \"Spring<\/a>

    Here’s a simple spring decoration, cut from some of our painting experiments with yellow.<\/p><\/div>\n

    The paper is thick enough that it behaves a little more like cardboard than like paper.\u00a0 Just note that since this is watercolor, it can rub off, so be careful if it’s going to be touching something you care about.<\/p>\n

    Finally, here’s one more useful resource– Sarah Baldwin is a former Waldorf early kindergarten educator who now runs Bella Luna Toys. \u00a0She has a YouTube video where she demonstrates this technique.<\/a><\/p>\n

    Thanks for reading, all.\u00a0 And happy painting!<\/p>\n

    Noe and Ember<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Last Tuesday morning, none of us were feeling our best.\u00a0 A dental checkup on a resistant toddler had taken its toll on both of us.\u00a0 I don’t know who was more in need of some art therapy– Ember or me!\u00a0 We recuperated with a peaceful afternoon at home.\u00a0 What better time for wet on wet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.noevenable.com\/singingcircles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}