Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project
Painting a black glue rose is a fun and easy painting project for kids, teens, and adults. I had as much fun painting one of these as my 4-year-old daughter did!
Once finished, this watercolor resist art project makes a gorgeous gift idea perfect for Mother’s day and birthdays!
You make also like to try a four season hand and fingerprint tree or some of these real flower nature crafts.
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Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project
Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project: Materials
- White Glue
- Black Acrylic Paint
- Heavy cardstock or 140 lb watercolor paper
- Pencil or rose clip art (See tutorial below)
- Liquid, tube or pallet watercolors
- Paint brushes or water brushes
Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project: Tutorial
1. Make black glue by adding a good squirt of black acrylic paint to a small bottle of white glue and shake very 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.
2. Have your child use a pencil to draw a rose onto watercolor paper OR print out some free clip art onto heavy cardstock like we did. You can find free rose clip art HERE and HERE. We printed out THIS rose at 200% so it filled the page. Use print preview and change the % as needed.
3. 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.
4. When the black glue rose is completely dry, invite children to use watercolors to paint it using the colors of their choice.
Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project: 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 one 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 preparing 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. 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 she took so I decided to include them in the photo collage below.
In them, 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. Watercolor painting is a perfectly imperfect art form.
The key to working with watercolors is to literally go with, as opposed to against, the way they naturally flow. Use water to help them flow mix and blend even more.
yellow, orange and magenta rose on cardstock & pink and magenta rose on cardstock
Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project: Round Two
My daughter loved this watercolor resist art project so much 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 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! 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 beautiful gifts kids can make.
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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