Watercolor & Tempera

Material study with watercolor and tempera paint

Materials Explored:

Prang Watercolor

Marie's Water Colour Tubes

Tempera Paint

Plastic Paint Pallet

Paintbrush

Soft Sponge

Watercolor Paper

Printer Paper

Coffee Filter

Process:

• I tested each color of each type of watercolor or tempera paint on dry watercolor paper, dry printer paper, and then pre wetted watercolor paper. Masking tape is usually used to keep watercolor away from the papers edges or boarders so I tested how well it worked with tempera paint compared to the prang watercolor

• I tested applying tempera with both a brush and soft sponge

• I tested putting a wet coffee filter over my test painting, painting on the coffee filter so it would bleed onto the painting underneath, and then removing the coffee filter to see if it would bleed the pigment in any fun way

• I crumpled the coffee filter and tried using it as a stamp

Findings:

• Tempera paint is applied significantly better with a soft sponge, helping to avoid pesky translucency

• Tube watercolor bleeds and is harder to control than prang watercolor pallets when painting wet on a dry paper. It's the opposite when painting wet on a wet paper

• Tempera paint will also bleed and can be used like watercolor

• Using tape to create crisp boarders worked with both prang and tempera on dry paper

Ideas for Application in the Classroom:

• Sponge or stamp painting with tempera

• Using the translucency of the tempera paint on purpose to build layers

Differentiation Strategies:

• I could let kids experiment with using watercolor on dry paper vs wet paper and let them choose what works best for them. With kids that struggle more to control the medium or with holding and using the brush, it may be best to encourage them to use the prang watercolor on dry paper for better control (for younger kids). Marie's tube watercolor used on wet paper would give them more control than prang on wet paper (for older kids)

• Offer both sponges/ sponges with handles to be used as brushes for tempera and regular paintbrushes for tempera (brushing with a soft sponge will let the paint be more opaque). Letting the kids experiment with different sponge shapes used as brushes and share their findings with the class would encourage kids to use different approaches that work best for them

• Using different shaped sponges or crumpled up pieces of paper as stamps to create texture is something the kids could experiment with before using what they learned to create a more specific scene

Technical and Safety Information:

• Marie's tube watercolor would dry around the cap and make it incredibly difficult to open or dry out the whole material. This means it should only be given to children old enough to use what comes out of the tube sparingly and who can make sure the caps are clean and screwed on correctly for cleanup (high school, possibly a small class of well behaved middle schoolers)

• Brushes with wider handles will be easier for smaller children

• Prang watercolor pallets can be run under the faucet to clean any muddy, mixed colors

• Students should be told preemptively to not fill water cups up completely so there is less spill when one inevitably gets bumped over. Kids should be able to be spaced out and everything else should be cleared off the tables to avoid spilling

• The water cups need to be able to handle the weight of the brush handles. Pint yogurt containers should be wide and heavy enough plastic for this

• Recycled egg cartons can be used as pallets for tempera paint

• It may be challenging to keep paint from mixing in unwanted ways on pallet paper for little kids, a plastic pallet may work better

• Premium or premier versions of tempera paint brands with be thicker and have more pigment

• Much cleanup time will be needed for watercolor

• A rack or safe place for artwork to dry will need to be ready beforehand

• Tables can be protected by newspaper and children can wear smocks to help with cleanup and absorbing spillage