When Art Turns Into Science

As we were looking for an art craft to do as we were doing "A Child's Geography" we decided to do a fresco.

This was a totally new art form for us and so we approached it with the thought that we would do a practice piece before trying to do a real art piece.

The lad was very unimpressed with how it was going and was getting a bit... worked up about it as he tends to being a perfectionist (not that he gets that from a stranger).  :)

In an effort to rescue the situation and prevent a total refusal to even keep trying I turned our art project into a science project.

Does the colour matter when doing it?
Does the thickness of the paint make a difference?
What happens if you mix a thin and thick paint?
What about areas of the plaster of paris that are dryer, what about the wetter areas?   Does that make a difference?
What about the type of paint brush you use?

That, as you can see, convinced him to continue.

I then asked him.... how do you think it was for the artists who used to do this type of painting.  Back then they couldn't go to the store for paint, they needed to make their own.   Do you think they struggled with doing a good job?

In his final picture you can see that his wolf spider did not turn out well, but he learned to use different paint brushes, and that thin paints don't work well when doing fresco's.   Thicker colours work well, particularly when trying to fill in larger areas. 

I had completed a more abstract work that my son liked a bunch.  :)   It really became our practice board from thick/thin paint, different brush strokes/styles etc.   but I haven't downloaded that picture yet.  When I do I'll update this post.