Getting the most from your students and common paint problems

I've received so many amazing emails lately. There is just nothing better than a big thank you for all the work that goes into blogging. When I started this blog a couple of years ago, there were so few of us. Maybe two or three people with art blogs. Now, there are hundreds! Yay, for us! Many of my emails have desperate pleas associated with them. I posted this article last year, but I thought I'd post it again with a few updates.

Inspired by a recent comment from Sarah S, I thought I'd address a few concerns that some teachers face when teaching art to their students.
Sarah commented that when she painted with her students, the projects never really seemed to "turn out". I know exactly what she means. Perusing art pages and seeing countless beautiful works from little bitty kids makes me wonder too, how the heck did they do that? First of all, it can be done, BUT it takes a bit of organization and a few fail-safe techniques. Here are my secrets....

Tip #1 Making Children's Art look
"Picture Perfect".

Okay. So before I go any further, I want you all to know that I believe strongly in the mantra that art is about the process not the end-results. Still, it doesn't hurt to make the most out of every project.
For painting lessons with younger kids, I often hand out a black oil pastel to trace over the lines once the paint is dry. Similarly, black paint is used for the same purpose. This simple step creates the strong contrast that is so appealing in kid's art.

Here are a few examples:



(Click on the photos to read the instructions)

Tip #2 Setting up & Storing Paints

Fact: Paint projects scare teachers. All that prep and mess. Not to mention the student who can't seem to finish his project. But parents love art and so do the kids so you know you gotta do it.
Here are a few tips that can help make the inevitable less daunting.

Instead of an individual paint palette, try encouraging your students to share. That's right. Share.
I use plastic "muffin tins" for paints. These can be found in any art catalog and are quite helpful in reducing the amount of paint you use and saves time in set-up. If I have 25 students, I set out one tray for every table. That means 5 trays for 5 tables. Easy peasy.
Each child then gets a paint brush and access to two water containers. If you are in a classroom with individual desks, art set-up will be a bit tough. This is a worse case scenario if you ask me! All I can suggest is to use paper plates with small blobs (quarter size) on each plate.

What about mixing?
I get asked this all the time. I encourage my students, especially the lower grades, to mix paint on their artwork. Yes, you read correctly. Kid's often get way too hung up on finding the "perfect" color and mixing becomes a waste of time. I teach the kids to "double load" their paint brush. Dip the brush into one color (say yellow) then dip straight away into another (say blue). Now, the paintbrush has two colors on the bristles. The kids love smearing the brush along the paper and seeing the colors mix by themselves. A bit of art magic.This can get messy but the more your reinforce this concept of sharing paint, kids begin to ease up on their personalized agenda for getting their own palette and revel in the fun of art. If you have small classes, and providing personalized palettes is an easy thing, then by all means do it.

The method above only applies to lessons when the paint colors are up to the students. For a color mixing lesson like my Colorwheel Clowns, I use plastic or paper plates.

How do I store my left-over paint?
Everyone has their system for saving paints. A few teachers I've know about avoid paint altogether. Definitely not the approach I'd recommend.
I rarely save my paints. I try to use just enough paint for my class then end up washing the palettes afterward. But this is getting tiresome.
The exception sometimes goes for liquid watercolor paints. Since I use the "muffin" type palette (shown above), it's almost impossible to pour off the remaining paint. So, if I need to save the paint because I have a class the next day working on the same lesson, etc., I cover the trays with plastic wrap. Simple, huh? I stick the palettes in a cupboard and remove the wrap when I need it. Of course, this only works if you have enough paint trays for the rest of your classes.

I've seen a few pictures of art rooms on the Internet and I know that some teachers still use Styrofoam egg cartons as their go-to paint caddy. This is a great use for your recyclables. I noticed another art teacher uses small plastic condiment cups (the kind you get in Mexican restaurants to hold salsa). These are perfect! They are the perfect size for paints, fit nicely in my muffin tin holders (so they don't spill over) and...the best part...they come with snap on lids! Costco or Smart and Final will have these.

I hope this helps you conquer some of those pesky problems that are all too common in an art room. I know I have my won weakness, such as Clean-Up. My Achilles heel, for sure. Add your own two cents and let's see if we can solve more problems.