Glue and Paper Painted Fall Leaves

Kaia loves painting with some kind of resist, like watercolour over crayon, so I thought we'd try something slightly different. I used white craft glue to make leaf outlines on a variety of colours of construction paper. Since the glue dries clear, the colour of the paper will show through where glue has been applied.

The girls painted the leaves with watercolours. Because we would be cutting the leaves out, this was an opportunity to use up some odd shaped scraps of paper.

They used so much water that on the porous construction paper, some of the paint bled under the glue. It had a neat effect, though, and you can still make out the glue lines. On the bright red paper, they almost seemed to glow.

This was the longest Katalin ever painted without trying to eat the art supplies, and she had so much fun. I loved watching her really get into every step of the process, and just completely experience the medium. She spent quite awhile simply dipping her brush in the paint and swishing it clean again in the water. She got paint everywhere, it was great!

They each had a piece of paper towel for dabbing their brushes dry on, and when Katalin noticed the way hers picked up colour, she began stamping it in the paint and then on her paper, she was so thrilled with the results! ...And then she decided it would be a fun thing to do to her face, too.

When the leaves were dry, I cut them out around the outside glue edge, and Kaia helped me hang them up on the glass door. I had a very hard time taking a picture of them because of all the light behind the door when I decided to do my photographing, (I'm not always very patient...) but you get the idea, anyway. They are so colourful and pretty cascading down the door!