Painted Concentric Art

MommyO brings you any day art with everyday materials!

Create like Wassily Kandinsky in Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles.

Before you start the artsy craft — have you seen the blog and vlog yet?

Create 'Painted Concentric Art' for hands-on fun with Abstract Expressionism!

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The following fun, hands-on artsy craft is designed to help you study color by painting concentric circles. You’ll try painting based on what you hear with your ears rather than on what you see with your eyes — just like Wassily Kandinsky when he painted his famous Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles.

MATERIALS

• Inspirational Music

• 7-1/2” x 10” White Cardstock

• Pan or Liquid Watercolor Paints*

• Paintbrush

• Crayons

• No. 2 Pencil

• Ruler

• Container of Water

*No paints on hand? NO PROBLEM! Follow this link to 'Artsy Craftsy Ideas' for a watercolor paint recipe made with stuff you probably have in your kitchen cupboard!

Everything you need to create 'Painted Concentric Art!'

DIRECTIONS

Play the inspirational music of your choice throughout the activity.

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Place the ruler along the 7-1/2” side of the white cardstock. Then, using the No. 2 pencil, make a small mark at 2-1/2”; then, again at the 5” point. Place the ruler along the 10” side of the paper. Make a small mark at 2-1/2”; then, again at the 5” point; and finally at 7-1/2”. Now draw lines from each edge of the paper to the other, so that you divide the paper into 12 equal squares.

Sketch your concentric circles, using the pencil, within each square.

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You may trace over your pencil lines using the crayons if you wish. Using crayons will help keep the watercolors from bleeding into one and other. Allowing the watercolors to bleed is not a bad thing and can provide an interesting artistic effect. If you wish the different colors to blend between each circle, do not use crayons to separate the watercolors.

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Because crayon creates a waxy surface, which prevents the paints from saturating the paper, bear in mind that wherever you choose to use crayon, the watercolor will not be visible.

Listening to your inspirational music, color and paint the concentric circles within one rectangle at a time. *Tip: If you’re right-handed; work from left to right to keep your hand out of the wet paint. If you’re left-handed; work from right to left.

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Using a paintbrush dipped in the watercolor of your choice, paint the smallest circle within the consecutive circles. Then, using different colors — based on what you hear — paint the other circles within the first rectangle. *Tip: Be sure to clean your paintbrushes each time you change colors.

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Repeat the previous step with your watercolors, until you are completely satisfied with the color of each of your concentric circles.

Notice that Kandinsky also used some white in his artwork. This too is an option for you, by simply leaving some paper showing.

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After you have completed your watercolor artwork, allow it to dry on a flat surface for one hour. Once it’s dry, add your Painted Concentric Art to your collection of refrigerator art — paying homage to the spirit of Abstract Expressionist Wassily Kandinsky and his Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles. This artwork will certainly provide a lovely splash of color to any kitchen!

If you enjoyed your mini-adventure in fine art with MommyO, please be sure to check out www.artadventurebox.com. There you'll find more amazing art adventures for budding artists of all ages — 5 to 105!