Painting watercolor rose art using black glue as a resist medium is a fun and easy painting idea for kids, teens, and adults. When finished, this black glue rose watercolor resist art project makes a gorgeous gift idea perfect for Mother’s day or a birthday!
My daughter and I loved painting roses. I had as much fun painting a watercolor rose as my 4-year-old daughter did!
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Rose Art Watercolor Painting Idea
Watercolor rose art is a fun and easy flower painting idea for kids, teens, and adults.
Related: Real flower Nature Crafts
Rose Art Project Materials
- White Glue
- Black Acrylic Paint
- Heavy cardstock or 140 lb watercolor paper
- FREE rose template (optional)
- Liquid, tube or pallet watercolors
- Paint brushes or water brushes
Related: Tons of Fun Art and Craft Ideas for Kids
How to Make Black Glue
Making black glue is simple. You don’t even need to measure. Add a good squirt of black acrylic paint to a small bottle of white glue and shake well.
We have a small bottle of glue dedicated to continually mixing white glue and black acrylic paint into to make a never-ending supply of black glue. I never measure and it always turns out fine.
Related: Fingerprint Flower Glass Magnets Kids Can Make
How to Paint a Watercolor Rose Painting with Black Glue Resist
1. Have your child use a pencil to draw a rose onto watercolor paper, draw a rose for them OR print free rose art template onto heavy cardstock.
2. Trace the outline of the rose with black glue and allow to dry overnight. Older children will be able to do this on their own while younger children will need help.
3. When the black glue rose is completely dry, invite children to use watercolors to paint it using the colors of their choice.
Related: Starfish Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art
Watercolor Rose Art Process and Tips
I printed out and traced two roses with black glue the night before we did this project because I wanted to paint a rose too!
Since my daughter has had a lot of experience working with wet-on-wet watercolors I decided to let her give this project a go without demonstrating it first. I was curious to see her process without any of my influence, so I told her that I would paint mine when she was finished.
If your child has never worked with watercolors, I recommend that you prepare at least one extra rose so you can demonstrate how to paint with watercolors first. Show more than tell, young children learn best by watching others. (You can see evidence of this fact in “Round Two” below.)
The petals can be painted individually or you can paint over the whole rose. The black glue will resist the watercolor paint.
My daughter loves pink, so she chose a light and a dark pink for the rose, and green for the background. I told her a color story about a rose that longed to be bright and colorful and away she went. For more information about how to tell an optional “color story” check out single color wet-on-wet watercolor painting.
Because I took pictures of my daughter painting, she wanted to take pictures of me painting rose art. Monkey see monkey do!
I decided to work with yellow, orange, and magenta and my daughter took the photos below as I worked. I was seriously impressed with the pictures that my daughter took, so I decided to include them in the photo collage below.
In the rose art photos below, you can see how to lay the watercolors side by side and/or layer them on top of each other in order to allow them to mix and blend. Rose watercolor painting is a perfectly imperfect art form.
The key to working with watercolors is to literally go with the way they flow. Use water to help them flow mix and blend even more.
Related: Four-Season Hand and Fingerprint Tree
yellow, orange and magenta rose on cardstock & pink and magenta rose on cardstock
Related: Art and Science Experiment with Watercolor Reist
Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project: Round Two
My daughter loved this watercolor resist art project so much that she begged me to make more glue roses to paint, so I did! I was amazed at what happened.
A few days later she painted two more watercolor roses, even though she had watched me paint mine a few days prior, I could see the influence that observing my work had. This time I watched her start by using her flat watercolor wash brush and then choose to work with a smaller watercolor brush like I did.
And… wait for it… she began layering the watercolors and using water like I did to create rose art! Amazing and true!
Like I said, children learn best by watching others. I gave no instruction at all. Not one tip or bit of advice. She watched, took photos, and learned! Monkey see monkey learn… Just look at the amazing pink and blue rose, and pink and red rose she painted below!
Pink and blue rose on watercolor paper
Pink and red rose on watercolor paper
A black glue rose is too gorgeous to stash away or sneak into the round file known as the trash can. This artwork would look amazing framed and hung in the home or given away as a gift.
My daughter can’t wait to give the black glue roses she painted to her grandma’s for Mother’s Day! You may also like these cute fingerprint flower glass magnets and all of these other beautiful gifts kids can make.
More Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art Projects
If you like working with black glue you may like some of the other art projects below. Click on the title to see the full tutorial for each art project.
- Winter Tree Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art
- Under the Sea Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art Projects
- Starfish Black Glue Resist Art Project
- Fall Leaves Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art Project
If You Liked Rose Art, You may also like:
- Four Season Hand and Fingerprint Tree
- Kids books That Teach Important Life Lessons
- Real Flower Nature Crafts for Kids and Teens
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Hi there Nell!
This is a gorgeous project that I am interested in trying out with the kids in my Library programs. While there is lots of rose clip-art online, I really like the one you used. Do you have link to where you found it? Or know where the image can be downloaded? I would be so incredibly thankful if you could help!
Thanks so much for posting this,
Sally
Hi Sally! So glad you like the project and the rose I used. Creating my own printable is on a very long list of to-dos. I will move it up in priority and do my best to get to it in the next day or two.
Oh! I didn’t realize you made it yourself. Nell, I would be deeply grateful if I could receive a copy – whenever you are able to. If it is easier, my email is sally.samuel@wbrl.ca. Thanks so very, very much!!
Okay, Sally, I have edited the post to include a link to a free rose template that you may use for personal use only. You may copy them for students to use, but they may not be distributed. Enjoy! 🙂
THANK YOU, Nell! You are amazing!!!!!!!! 🙂
Awww, gee, thanks… blushing 🙂