Sponge painting - a decorative and expressive technique for beginners

COMING SOON... STAY TUNED...

Dabbing/Spatter - an interesting technique to create textures using any objects...

COMING SOON... STAY TUNED...

The Sunset – at the fingertips!

In my first blog, I penned down (or should I say finger tipped) my thoughts on finger-painting the nature!

After a very colorful painting by the kids with their fingertips, I was thinking about different ways with which kids could practice this interesting technique more and more and get command on the fingers!

When kids dip their fingers in color, they learn many skills as a result, that includes -

• Applying right pressure to paint a light or a dark picture. 
• Quantity of color required to create a shape.  
• Using right finger or thumb tip for the right shape and 
• Applying right angles with fingers and arms to bring the life to the picture.

After my first attempt on helping children finger-painting the nature, I thought of bringing the Sunset at their fingertips. Children usually identify the sky with blue color and it was a right opportunity to introduce them to the colors of sky which could turn grey with dark clouds, orange at the dawn, black at night and blue during a clear day.

Children were super excited as they were amused by their newly found skill and interest in finger-painting. Let's see how they could bring the Sunset at their fingertips:

• Primarily, understand how thick or thin your color is and how it spreads on your paper or canvas
• Start spreading orange color for the background in no particular shape but using right pressure with your hands
• Use dark black/brown to shape up the mountains. The mountain peak could be shaped up using the fingers and thumb.
• Start shaping up a tree and its branches, again, in no particular shape. This will build confidence in your kid who is trying their hands and fingers on this Sunset picture.
• For the background color, mix and use yellow, orange and red.
• Use darker orange, yellow and red mixture to shape up the setting Sun behind the mountain
• Small 'V' shaped strokes using little finger would help bringing life to the Sunset picture with birds flying

And the result is as beautiful as the kids who finger-painted this Sunset.

Explore more such wonders here.

Finger-painting the nature! A step before holding the paint brush...

Finger-painting, what it is?
Finger-painting or simply a fingerpaint is a very interesting form of art which is mostly popular with non-artists, beginners and specially children. It's not only about painting with your fingers or thumbs but also about using your hands and lower arms in different angles to paint objects in different shapes and patterns.

Finger-painting is a great technique for children to start developing interest in painting and helps them taking up painting as their hobby. It's very essential to introduce children to finger-painting at an early stage.

Finger-painting is also widely used as an art education medium and for its therapeutic benefits.

Finger-painting, how it is done?

• The Material: Fingerpaint used for finger-painting is a non-toxic paint usually available in various bright colors. The fingerpaint can also be prepared from the non-toxic household products like turmeric, flour and cornstarch.

• Finger-painting small objects
• Not sure where to start and how to start finger-painting? or how you could help your kids with finger-painting? Let's start finger-painting small objects.
• The rule is - use your thumbs to make oval shaped objects and fingers for circular objects.
• Start visualizing small objects like a honey bee, flower, butterfly, earth, sun, fish and any other objects you could think of.
• Start making such shapes and objects applying colors to your thumbs and fingers
• Use a marker or a pencil for detailing and outlining and you will see your objects coming to life!

• Finger-painting the nature!
• Once you are comfortable in shaping up small objects, all you need is a drawing paper or a canvas
• Let's see how to paint a picture with fields, flower and a blue sky! If you are helping your kids, it's important to connect them to the picture that you intent to paint. Ask appropriate questions to build their interest - like what do you see when you go outside? what color is the sky and what color are the fields and trees?
• Use your drawing paper or canvas in two parts and start applying blue color in the upper part to paint the sky and yellow base in the lower part to paint the base for fields and grass.
• After the base color is dried up, start applying strokes with your little finger to paint grass and fields.
• Use your thumb and fingers to paint flowers and butterfly hovering around it.

• And the result? Here is a beautiful picture painted by small children in age group 3 to 5 years. 

                                           

Using your fingers, thumbs and hands for painting is a great opportunity approach a craft from a fresh perspective. Finger-painting is a great technique to connect your emotions, imagination and innovation to you painting. At the end, you and your kids earn a great sense of satisfactions and it's a very fulfilling experience!

Happy finger-painting...

Art, craft, painting and creativity blog...

Het Art School - this art school is born today to spread awareness in all kind of art, craft and creativity. A process driven approach to learn art, craft, drawing and painting.

I intend to share all my learning, experiences and methods to develop art as a hobby. Everyone is welcome to join and support this initiative.