Mixed Media Still Life Flowers

A few weeks ago I was volunteering in my son’s elementary school when I literally stopped in my tracks to see the incredible artwork hanging on the walls. The children had created mixed media snowmen entitled “Technicolor Snowman”. I was blown away by the creative, happy project and couldn’t wait to put our own spin on it. Because we are still waiting for the snow to melt and enjoy the beautiful colors of Spring I bought some flowers for our home in a gorgeous array of colors. We loved them so much I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to create Mixed Media Still Life Flowers.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE MIXED MEDIA STILL LIFE FLOWERS

large white paper- here is what we use
liquid watercolors
oil pastels
craft paper- we love this glitter card stock
white glue
paintbrushes

AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

fine motor development (painting, ripping paper, coloring with pastels)
color exploration
creativity
observation
patience
delayed gratification

HOW TO MAKE MIXED MEDIA STILL LIFE FLOWERS

Begin with a gorgeous array of flowers in a vase. I chose flowers with a variety of colors and textures. They were so pretty I could not stop taking photos!

Set up a painting station with jars of liquid watercolors, paintbrushes, large pieces of white paper and the vase of flowers.

I spaced out the paper to give my children ample amounts of space to work.

Next I told my children that we would be using the vase of flowers for painting inspiration. This was the first time we would be using a still life as a painting tool. I didn’t want my children to stress about their paintings needing to look a certain way so we emphasized that each artist observes nature in her own way. Whatever colors or designs they wanted to do would be perfect for their paintings. We began by using liquid watercolors to make the basic shapes and colors of the flowers and vase.

Once the children decided their paintings were finished we put them on a ledge to dry. Oh how happy we were to see the sun shining into our home after such a dreary winter!

Once the paintings were dry we used our oil pastels to add more details.

Next we used some of our favorite craft paper and glitter card stock to glue onto our Mixed Media Still Life Flowers. Colored construction paper would be a great addition too! I had the paper cut into small squares, rectangles and triangles, but we also ripped the paper in different ways when needed.