Mixing Colors - Exploring Fluidity and Smoothness of Paint

This young artist begins with a palette of warm colors mixed in another class. He enjoys scooping the paints and moving colors to another tray.

Here he is fascinated by the drips of white on the dark pink and red - good contrast.

He finds another palette, a greater variety of colors moves to painting with a brush. Smooth strokes across the page with some additional mixing of colors on the paper as they touch.

Then returns to his scooping and dripping technique, this time over the ground painted. The white drips make nice contrast over his colors.

A final image shows Mom's painting as she works across from him. She explores those warm colors as she creates her round shape, using shading and color variations to suggest a sherical form. At the same time, she is sharing his exploration of the material - modeling discoveries about color, smoothness of paint and rounded brush strokes.

Each is deeply engaged in his and her own process; perhaps his mom's image even grounds and the young artist as he works. They are sharing the painting experience as they work across from each other and share materials. Mom's painting also allows her just the right amount of attention, focused on her own process, yet able to be aware and interested in her son's creation.