Watercolor and Salt Winter Scene

 Our first snow arrived today. Nothing like it. We were in a happy winter mood and decided it was the perfect afternoon for some winter scene paintings.
 I am a big fan of watercolors for my children and myself. There are so many different ways to use and adapt them to every age. There is not much I would rather be doing then sitting with my kids and creating a watercolor painting together. It just makes me happy!

 For this winter scene project we used a pan set, but we are big fans of liquid watercolors as well. They are easy for little ones to use and you can also use it for things like shaving cream prints and to color play dough! Talk about versatile.

 To start our project I had the kids create some bare winter birch trees with masking tape on a sheet of watercolor paper (yes, this paper makes a big difference when working with watercolors.)
This project has been done in so many different ways and I wish I could find my first inspiration for it, but we've been painting these for several years now and it never gets old.

 Once the masking tape trees were in place the kids started to paint the background winter sky. I asked them to use only three colors for this project and focus on blending the colors.

 We compromised and they used about five colors. They painted right on top of the tape (so be sure the tape is sealed to the paper well.)

 While the painting was still wet we sprinkled a little bit of sea salt on top. This is to create a snowy look. The salt absorbs the watercolor and looks like snowflakes falling. It's instantly beautiful.

 G got a little carried away with the salt. I was just happy how engaged he was in this. I usually lose the little one after step two.

 Finally the tape comes off to reveal our beautiful birch trees. I think I forgot to mention to encourage tearing of the tape to create rough edges. It makes a big difference.

Using a dry brush we added lines to the trees and let our painting dry. Once dry most of the salt falls off and leaves behind our wonderful snowflakes.
What a great way to spend our first snow day. Happy winter, friends!