Splatter Paint Trees

Fall Art

I had seen these really beautiful splatter paintings around Pinterest, but the instructions are not in English.  I still found them inspiring and had the idea to recreate the artwork each season until we have a matching set... winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Today we started with the summer trees.
I had to wing it a bit on this project since there were no usable instructions, but here is how we did it.


 
Supplies:

• Watercolors or poster paint
• Paint brushes
• Art paper
• Straws

Method:

Painting palm tree trunks

We started by painting the trunks with watercolor.  Sissy painted hers, but the twins got a little help from their Gigi.  
  
Once the trunks were done we began experimenting with different splatter methods.  The twins smashed their brushes over the paper creating a lovely leafy effect I hadn't anticipated ;)  

Blowing on splatter leaves

Sissy and I tried slightly more sophisticated methods.  We dipped our brushes in the paint and tapped them to create splatter.  We also dipped the end of a straw into the paint and firmly blew onto the paper to create splatter.  

At this point we ran into a bit of a problem.  It was very difficult to get enough watercolor paint on the end of straw to coat the bottom and create a bubble.  Without the bubble, there was nothing to splatter.  So then we tried with poster paints.  It certainly coated the straw fine, but would just blow out in one big blob.  After that we tried mixing the poster paints half and half with water, and finally started to get some nice splatter.  
Unfortunately, it was difficult for Sissy to blow hard enough to get a good effect.  We  didn't ever find the right paint consistency to achieve the perfect light even looking splatter in the original. 

Sissy's palm trees

Results:

We had a wonderful time experimenting with a new way to paint.  Despite all of our difficulties, the kids were able to create some really beautiful art.  I'm going to do a bit more research and try a few more methods to get it just right for our fall paintings though.

The twins trees!

Happy summer! 

UPDATE:  Thanks to the suggestion of a childhood friend, Sissy and I tried again today with old toothbrushes!  Simply dip the bristles in very wet watercolors, and run your finger along the bristles to splatter.  It is super messy and amazing fun!  Here are a few samples of the trees we made today!