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Watercolor painting on paper towels

January 21, 2019 by Katie 9 Comments

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I think the idea for this art project arose one day when I had our liquid watercolors out to do another activity. Whenever I pull out liquid watercolors, I always bring out the paper towels as well to quickly mop up any spills.

Well, in soaking up a tiny spill I noticed how pretty the liquid watercolor paint looked on the paper towel. So I thought, why not try painting paper towels?

Note: For more art projects your kids will enjoy, see my Arts and Crafts for Kids page.

Watercolor painting on paper towels | Use liquid watercolor paints to make beautiful artwork on paper towels | #artsandcrafts #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity

I started by placing a paper towel onto a tray.

Watercolor painting on paper towels | Use liquid watercolor paints to make beautiful artwork on paper towels | #artsandcrafts #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity
 

I supplied six different colors of liquid watercolors to paint with, and a nice selection of paint brushes.

Watercolor painting on paper towels | Use liquid watercolor paints to make beautiful artwork on paper towels | #artsandcrafts #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity

Then I let my kids get to work. They touched their brushes to the paper to allow the liquid paint to soak in.

Watercolor painting on paper towels | Use liquid watercolor paints to make beautiful artwork on paper towels | #artsandcrafts #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity
Watercolor painting on paper towels | Use liquid watercolor paints to make beautiful artwork on paper towels | #artsandcrafts #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity

They also used their fingers to flick and splatter paint onto the paper towels.

Watercolor painting on paper towels | Use liquid watercolor paints to make beautiful artwork on paper towels | #artsandcrafts #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity

I encouraged them to keep going until the entire paper towel was colored with paint.

 

The end results were gorgeous!

Watercolor painting on paper towels | Use liquid watercolor paints to make beautiful artwork on paper towels | #artsandcrafts #giftofcuriosity || Gift of Curiosity
 

More arts and crafts ideas

More arts and crafts posts from Gift of Curiosity:

  • 20 ways to use liquid watercolors
  • Constellation craft
  • Crystallized snowflakes
  • Painting with strings
  • Recycled crayon craft
  • Leaf collages
  • Easy seed medallion craft
  • Coffee filter chromatography

For more fun art projects, see my Arts and Crafts for Kids page and my Arts and Crafts Pinterest board. 

Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Arts & Crafts on Pinterest.

Don't miss out!

9 Comments

Comments

  1. Jason says

    January 24, 2019 at 5:23 am

    So lovely!!!! Will try these with my kids

    Reply
  2. Amanda says

    January 25, 2019 at 10:02 am

    These look amazing! Would watered-down tempera paint work?

    Reply
    • Katie says

      January 25, 2019 at 10:20 am

      I doubt it would work as well, but perhaps if you got it really diluted it might. You can always give it a try and see!

      Reply
  3. Jennifer says

    June 15, 2019 at 9:31 pm

    This is an amazing activity! Would watered down food coloring also work?

    Reply
    • Katie says

      June 16, 2019 at 3:11 pm

      I expect it would work just fine. Why not give it a try and see!

      Reply
  4. Melissa Lowman says

    June 21, 2019 at 10:50 pm

    Cute idea, but what I really like are those trays! Where did get them?
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Katie says

      June 22, 2019 at 7:43 am

      The larger trays I got at Lakeshore Learning: https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/arts-crafts/craft-collage-materials/easy-clean-craft-trays-set-of-4/s/BX532/

      The smaller trays are from Dab and Dot: https://amzn.to/2x9adBb

      Reply
  5. Anna says

    January 22, 2021 at 9:18 am

    Would regular watercolors work as well?

    Reply
    • Katie says

      January 23, 2021 at 10:07 am

      As long as they were liquidy enough, I imagine they would work just fine. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

      Reply

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