Resist Paintings on Newspaper

For the past few weeks students in 1st-5th grade have been experimenting with different ways to use common recycled materials for drawing and painting. We specifically looked for paper products that were abundant and inexpensive to begin with; these would be items that most students would be able to find at home.

For this unit, we used newspaper. Students looked for quarters of the paper that were mainly comprised of text. The sports and business sections were the best for plain text. (We chose not to use the obituaries out of respect.) This allowed the text to become a sort of background pattern to create on top of.

The students used black and white crayon to create an observation drawing of flowers. This summer I bought a variety of synthetic flowers on sale at Michael's. The students chose from the selection and drew the flowers with as much detail as they could. They made sure to especially use the white crayon to add detail and pattern to the background. The students had to push pretty hard with their crayons in order to build up a good layer of wax for the resist.

To add color to the drawings, the students used metallic watercolor paint. They discovered how the wax in the crayon resists the water in the paint, allowing the crayon to show through even when painted over. It's hard to get the full effect in the pictures, but the paint, especially when applied in thicker layers, dries with a glossy, sparkly sheen. So pretty!!! Also, as Mrs. Taylor reminded me, the water is really fun to look at as it gets filled with metallic, swirly color. The students LOVED this paint, and I did too.

On another cool side note, we discovered that the resist process could be repeated in layers. Some students who did not put enough wax on the first layer ended up with a very plain background. After the paint had dried the students drew on top of the surface with white crayons again - this time making sure to push very hard. Then, they added a second layer of paint. This created a really beautiful effect, as the paint in the first layer showed through under the white crayon.

This method can be applied with a number of different mediums, and the best part is you can make a ton with just one newspaper issue!