Kids Art: Winter Holiday Card

Although we don't usually get much snow, or perhaps because of it, the kids seem to love wintry scenes with piles of snow, roaring fire, trees laden with white, snowflakes and all things magical.

That was the inspiration for this particular set of cards done by the ten year old.

Together, we pored over wintry scenes online to fill our hearts with the cool beauty painted by various artists. Then we decided to make up a simple winter scene with pine and birch trees.

Items used:
White oil pastel
Some Cobalt and Prussian Blue water color paints
Salt crystals - either table salt or rock salt for bigger crystals
Flat brush for wash
Water color paper and card stock paper
Light and dark blue, yellow/orange, and brown oil pastels
Green, yellow, and purple color pencils
Silver glitter glue


What we ended up doing:

1. We cut the water color and cardstock paper to required size
2. We used white oil pastel for masking - to draw a hint of snowy foreground, pine tree outline, bare birch trunks
3. We did a graduated wash with blue watercolor; and while still wet, sprinkled salt as in the usual Salt Sprinkled painting exercises we've done many times before
4. We allowed it to dry completely, which didn't take long because we left it by the heating vent
5. We then took the green and purple color pencil and filled the pine tree in
6. We then highlighted the pine tree with dark and light blue oil pastels and some brown for the trunk; added a hint of blue oil pastels to the birch trees
7. Finally, we painted a thin layer of glitter glue - both to seal the work and to add sparkle

To finish the cards, we mounted the water color paper on to card stock with dimensional tape, adding framing layers as we fancied.

Kids Art: Snow-inspired Salt-sprinkled Paintings

We had snowfall!

Well, ordinarily, this wouldn't be such a big deal if we lived in an area that routinely gets snow dumped on it around the right season.

Ana made a huge snowball in the backyard. Oggie stomped around the backyard with feelings alternating rapidly between like and hate - while he likes the snowfall and the rarity of it, he hates the biting cold which makes him enjoy it less. We went for a long walk with some friends before the snow melted away.

And, inspired by the clumps of snowflakes falling down rapidly in such a flurry making the outdoors seem rather blurry, we did some Salt-Sprinkled painting.

Snow Bowl with Banana and Apple in Snowfall
-or-
Still Life in Snowfall by Ana

Sunset by Og

Of course, the names are thought-up after the painting is complete. It is not like the kids set out to do exactly what the titles suggest. And, the naming exercise is more for fun rather than qualifying their creation in some way. We toss around many titles and finally settle on something.

Kids Art: Winter 'Magic' Painting

We are overly fond of Oil Pastel Resist. (I am. Corollary: Ana is too.)

And we love the amorphous effect of Salt Sprinkled Painting.

This Winter 'Magic' Painting seems to be the latest trend in Ana's impromptu art works. It combines Oil Pastel Resist and Salt Sprinkled Painting in cool watercolors on heavy-weight paper to create winter backdrop for some of the layered/collage pieces, or even as stand-alone pieces.

White oil pastel on white paper creates the 'magic': Since white on white is practically inconspicuous at first, when we wash over it with inky watercolors, it reveals itself.

Dots, snowflakes, stars, piles of snow etc., even snowman were Ana's favorite... snow-laden evergreens, penguins on icy shores and such were some of the things I initially shared with her, nothing breath-taking. Most of Ana's creations became Thank You cards we sent post-Xmas.



Items Used: Oil pastels, water colors, faux sable #12 flat brush (or any brush - large flat brush makes the wash easier), common salt (in shaker to minimize mess/wastage), heavy weight paper (card stock is fine, but effects vary with paper weight); optional: scissors, pinking shears, double-sided foam adhesive tape, glue

1. On white heavy weight paper, create some design/scene with white oil pastel for the 'magic' painting; (any colored oil pastel can be used for the scenery, reserving the white to depict snow/ice in the finished work)
2. Use a large flat brush with inky watercolors to wash over it
3. When it is still in the glossy state, not dry yet, but not soggy either, sprinkle salt on the wet watercolors just painted
4. Allow to dry completely and brush off the salt

Some of the things we used this for:

• Book Mark: Make Winter Magic Painting on a desired rectangular piece of medium heavy-weight paper; fold in half with a piece of Ric Rac ribbon or raffia in between, and glue together to make a book mark. For extra protection, I "laminated" it with clear contact sheet. For Nana, we glued one of the penguins Oggie made on this wintry background, and Ana wrote, "Happy Reading, Nana!", before I laminated it.


• Cut-paper Collage: Cut out pictures from old greeting cards or wrapping paper, or create your own figures - we went with the ubiquitous reindeer, penguins, snowman, pine tree and suchlike. Glue them on with double-sided foam tape for that extra dimension. We made small 3x5 inch or 4x6 inch ones for greeting cards


• Cards: Cut a 3x3 inch or so square using pinking shears with interesting edges; glue this with double-sided foam adhesive tape on to a piece of card stock paper that is slightly larger; then attach this combo to the front of a handmade paper card, with mild sprinkling of glitter where preferred


• Rubber-Stamp: We created a whole 8x11 heavy weight paper with teal, indigo, lilac, purple Winter Magic Painting; when completely dry, add snowflake or any favorite rubber stamp in interesting colors. (As before, I like to use food-color inks for rubber stamping). Apply a gentle layer of glitter for that extra magic little girls love

As always, inspiration comes from many places. This combination of Oil Pastel Resist and Salt Sprinkled Painting can be be used for non-winter themes as well, using the white oil pastel to preserve the whites/light where needed.

Kids Art: Salt Sprinkled Painting

This is a simple activity even a toddler can do. Simply brush the paper with inky diluted tempera paints or watercolors, sprinkle some common salt, allow to dry.

Items Used: Heavy-weight paper, paints, brush, salt

Water wash the paper before adding colors for a soft muted effect of blending the colors.

Try different size salt crystals like Rock salt, even Ice Cream salt to see the different effects.