Use watercolors and a black watercolor resist medium to create colorful winter tree silhouette art. Make this gorgeous winter tree painting with the step-by-step instructions below today!
Painting winter tree silhouette art using watercolors and a black resist medium is a fun winter tree art project idea for kids and adults. Invite children of all ages to paint a colorful winter tree silhouette with watercolors at home or in the classroom with the awesome ideas below. (This step-by-step winter tree painting idea is perfect for kids from toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners, to teens.)
Color mixing and the science of resist mediums are educational STEAM activities for kids that make learning fun at home or in the classroom. And this colorful winter tree silhouette watercolor art project provides a wealth of learning opportunities for children and adults of all ages. Working with resist mediums and watercolor paints is a process-oriented way to practice working with watercolor paints and different color blending techniques. You may also enjoy this list of winter art projects and painting ideas for kids.
How to Make A Winter Tree Silhouette with a Black Resist Medium
Creating winter tree silhouette art with watercolors and a black resist medium is a fun and easy art project idea, and STEAM activity, for kids and adults. First, choose the type of resist medium you will use to draw your winter tree silhouette–black crayon, black oil pastel, or black glue–scroll down for the simple instructions to make it.
If you choose to make and use black glue, we recommend creating your winter tree silhouette art over two days. On the first day, invite artists of all ages to use black glue to draw winter tree shadow pictures on watercolor paper or heavyweight cardstock. Then paint over and around the winter tree silhouettes with watercolors on the second, giving the black glue the time it needs to dry.
Using black glue as the watercolor resist medium to make a winter tree silhouette allows children to create two types of winter art. Children can make winter tree art on the first day. And, on the second, a color-filled winter tree silhouette watercolor painting.
Working on this winter watercolor art project over two days also allows homeschoolers to learn more with this fun winter STEAM activity for kids. It also allows parents and teachers to focus on one art technique at a time, making completing this winter silhouette art project much easier for kids.
Scroll down to see the winter tree art supply list and the step-by-step instructions for this winter art painting idea, including the directions to make black glue.
Related: Snowy Alpine Tree Watercolor Resist Art
Winter Tree Art Project Supplies
You will notice that the materials on this list have several options available. Use the art supplies on hand, or try something new. The recipe for black glue is in the step-by-step instructions below.
- White glue and black acrylic paint, OR, black oil pastel, OR, black crayon
- Watercolor paper or cardstock (heavyweight works best)
- Stockmar watercolors OR watercolor paint pallet OR liquid watercolors
- 3/4 – 1 1/2 inch flat wash watercolor brush OR flat wash watercolor paintbrush set
- Printable Winter Tree Art Template (Optional)
As you can see, several different types of art supplies will work to make colorful winter tree art. First, decide the type of watercolor resist medium you would like to use–pastel, crayon, or black glue. In other words, make black glue with white glue and black acrylic paint with the easy step-by-step instructions below. Or, use black oil pastels or crayons to draw a winter tree silhouette. Next, use your favorite watercolor paints and a paintbrush to finish your winter tree art project. Scroll down for the complete DIY details.
Related: The Best Art Supplies for Kids
Winter Tree Silhouette Art Project Step-by-Step Instructions
First, decide which black resist medium you will use to make this winter tree art project; black glue, black oil pastel, or black crayon. My daughter demonstrates how to use black glue as the resist medium for the winter tree silhouettes in the photographs shown and the winter tree art video tutorial. You can also see her demonstrate how to use a flat wash watercolor brush, and watch her beautiful watercolor paint blending techniques, in the video that follows these instructions.
Related: Art & Science: Experiment with Watercolor Resist Mediums
1. Make black glue. (optional)
Skip this first step if using black oil pastel or crayon to draw winter tree silhouettes. Instead, scroll down and start this winter tree art idea with Step 2.
How to make Black Glue:
Making black glue is simple and does not need to be measured–simply mix white glue with black acrylic paint to make black glue. We make our black glue by adding both ingredients to a small old bottle of white glue. We add black acrylic paint and white glue when the bottle runs low and shake it up to mix it. Invert the bottle and gently squeeze it to use.
Note: You do not need to make “black glue” look black. Because white glue dries clear, black glue will often appear grey until completely dry. And a little black acrylic paint goes a long way–so you don’t need much. My daughter never measures, and it always turns out fine. We are constantly adding a mixture of white glue and black acrylic paint to our “black glue bottle” for the black glue art projects we create, including the winter silhouette art in the photographs below.
2. Print, trace, or sketch a winter tree silhouette.
Download and print the winter tree silhouette onto heavyweight cardstock. Or, draw a winter tree with black oil pastel, black crayon, or black glue directly onto a blank canvas (watercolor paper or heavyweight cardstock). Please do not use the printable template without a black resist medium covering it, or it will bleed black into the colors of your winter painting.
If you are drawing your own winter tree for this winter silhouette art project, you are welcome to use a drawing pencil to sketch a winter tree silhouette before tracing over it with a black crayon, black oil pastel, or black glue to create the base for your winter tree silhouette art.
Make sure the black resist medium you choose has enough time to set before moving on to the next step in this winter tree art project, or it too will bleed black into the colors in your watercolor painting. Black glue needs to dry overnight, black oil pastel works best when it has a few hours to set, and black crayon trees can usually be painted over right away.
But you can’t rush black glue–it will not resist watercolor paint unless it is completely dry. Learn more about working with a black resist medium in watercolor rose art.
3. Paint the winter tree silhouette with watercolors.
Invite children to use watercolors to paint the winter trees they made with a black resist medium. Please encourage them to use and paint with different colors as a fun way to learn about and experience color.
Working with watercolors is a process-oriented way to help children understand the magic of color mixing and how to blend colors to create different shades and tones in their winter artwork. Start with wet-on-wet watercolor painting if your children have never worked with watercolors.
Related: Heart Art Projects
How to Paint a Winter Tree Silhouette | Video Tutorial
Play the video below to see my five-year-old daughter (at the time) at work on the winter tree painting idea you can see in the photographs for this post. First, she beautifully shows how to draw a winter tree silhouette with black glue (at super speed with some help from my editing-lol!). Next, you can see her demonstrate how to use a flat wash watercolor brush correctly and watch her creative use of colors and how she blends and layers them along with other impressive watercolor painting techniques to produce a gorgeous final outcome.
Related: Watercolor Surprise Heart Art Painting Ideas
More Watercolor Resist Art Projects for Kids
Head over to look at all the other watercolor and black glue-resist art projects we have created for even more black glue and watercolor paint fun!
- Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project
- Starfish Black Glue Watercolor Art Project
- Under the Sea Black Glue Art Projects
- Fall Leaves Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art
Silhouette Winter Tree Painting Idea
This colorful winter tree silhouette watercolor art project is also a great winter STEAM activity for children of all ages. It provides a wealth of learning opportunities for kids from toddlers to preschoolers and kindergarteners to teens (and adults, too!). For this reason, we like to split this winter tree painting idea into two parts.
Spend the first day drawing and tracing winter tree silhouettes with children at home or in the classroom. And on the second day, invite them to paint their beautiful silhouette picture. This gives kids plenty of time to experience each type of watercolor art method or process and helps them enjoy the final results.
We hope you enjoy painting winter trees as much as we do! You may also enjoy this fantastic collection of winter art projects and painting ideas.
And have a look at this cute collection of Valentine’s Day art projects. Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
More Art Projects for Kids (and Adults, too!)
- Easter Art Ideas for Kids
- The Best Fall Art Projects for Kids
- Halloween Art Projects Kids LOVE!
- Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Painting for Kids
- Best Christmas Art Projects for Kids
Note: This post was first published on January 18, 2018.
What a great effect! I’ve not tried making black glue before. I’ll give it a try.
Yay! I’m so glad you’ve been inspired to try black glue resist art! It’s really easy to make, the problem I see more often than not is that people think they need to make the glue look black and end up using too much acrylic paint, and this can add black to your watercolor painting if you use a lot of water. A little black acrylic paint in a white glue bottle, well shaken, goes a long way! Enjoy!