As a former art teacher, I’ve developed very strong opinions on art materials. By and large, I believe in providing the very best possible materials to kids, making it clear that these are the very best materials, and then expecting great care and pride to come about during the act of creation.
This requires careful, deliberate introductions to all materials provided. A child cannot be expected to keep a watercolor palette in good condition unless they have received explicit instructions on how to do so. Once they know the ins and outs of caring for the materials, they can freely explore their artistic boundaries.
But I don’t start out by handing over Micron pens and Japanese cold pressed paper. Even if I had the money to burn, the abuse the materials would receive would give me anxiety. So, as Rémy just starts his artistic journey, I’m providing materials that are perfect for experimentation and training.
At 20 months, we are in the early days of painting. I held off for a long time, waiting for him to stop mouthing everything. Now, we are just getting into the process of picking up a brush and making marks. My two favorite paints for these early days - water and mud.
Are these the most exciting materials out there? Not really. But they have a lot of great things going for them. They are free, they are washable, they can be ingested, and they mimic the texture of other paints kids will encounter down the road.
Currently, I have a water painting station set up at Rémy’s easel. It consists of a bowl of water, a cheap brush, a rag, and cardboard clipped to the easel. He can choose to practice at any time the water is set out. His brushwork typically looks very similar to his work with crayons - large arm movements side to side.
Eventually, he figured out that the wet cardboard made for interesting sensory play, and he started picking it apart. He uses the brush to wet the cardboard and then peels off the top layer. It’s still brush work, just evolved.
Outside we have been painting with mud since Rémy was 12 months old. It is a marvelous art material. For one thing, there is a process involved with making the actual paint. I love the idea that he is getting to know paint as a compound, as a product of mixing elements together.
Then there is the fact that mud can be mixed to different consistencies to create different effects. We’ve played around with mud paint that is like a watercolor wash, and paint that was downright chunky. It exposes him to the feeling of different paint textures, and lets him see how those textures come across visually.
And no matter how much mud paint gets thrown around and splattered and piled on, it can be washed off without putting any kind of foreign elements into the soil. It’s the dirtiest, cleanest paint on the planet.
Through our mud painting adventures, I’ve found that my favorite brushes aren’t brushes at all. Nothing beats a silicone basting brush. It holds the mud nicely, but washes out easier than any other brush.
With both water and mud, I can sit back and let Rémy experiment with his hand movements. From time to time, I insert myself and offer up ideas about brush care or different strokes, but for the most part I observe and enjoy.
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