Splatter painting is a super fun and easy process art technique that kids of all ages love! This Pollock inspired splatter painting art project will have kids learning about the famous artist and doing some action art of their own.

We made splatter paint trees to represent each season and they turned out beautifully!

We love exploring different painting techniques. Take a look at my collection of painting ideas for kids for more fun and creative art projects to try!

For this project, I created a tree printable to make this craft even easier for you. This template is available to my email subscribers as part of my free printable resource library. Sign up to my email list below to gain instant access.

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We love to learn about famous artists and get inspired to create art projects in the same style. Take a look at this Van Gogh inspired art using forks and this beautiful Monet water lilies art project for more fun ideas.

Learn about Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock is best known for his paintings that he created by splattering, throwing, layering, and dripping paint onto an oversized canvas.

He called his style of painting Action Art because of the way he would move around while he created. His paintings are filled with movement and rhythm as a way of expressing himself through his art.

Helpful links to learn more about Jackson Pollock

This video from Art with Mati and Dada is great for explaining Action Art to younger kids.

This video is great for older kids and takes you to Pollock’s house and studio where he created his art.

For more information about Jackson Pollock and his way of painting, take a look at this page from Tate Kids.

Here is another great site that has some more Jackson Pollock facts and images.

As kids create their own Jackson Pollock inspired splatter paintings, have them think about bringing movement and rhythm into the way they create their artwork. They can also think about how the different colors of the seasons make them feel, does the cherry blossom splatter painting have a different feeling than the winter painting?

Create your own Pollock inspired splatter painting

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Supplies

• Tree printable available below (optional)
• White cardstock
• Acrylic paint in various colors
• Paintbrushes
• Paint palette

Instructions to create your own splatter paintings

1. If you are using the printable provided, print it out onto white cardstock. If kids want to draw their own tree, have them draw with a pencil onto white cardstock.

2. Paint the tree with black acrylic paint and let it dry completely. Using a smaller round brush makes this easier for kids, especially as they paint the thinner branches.

Splatter painting can be quite messy, I was surprised at the different places I found some paint splatters when I was cleaning up! To help keep the mess down, kids can splatter paint in a cardboard box. Or if you are able to paint outside, that is also a good option.

We have a fairly big table to do our projects on, so I just spread out some paper and made sure to clear the table to keep the splatter paint off anything important.

3. Decide on which tree you will be painting, or try all four! I used acrylic paint that comes in a squeeze bottle, this paint is a lot thinner than the artist-grade acrylic paint that comes in a tube.

The paint needs to be thin enough to splatter, so if you find your paint too thick, try mixing in a small amount of water. There were a couple of colors that I needed to add water to.

Start with your lightest color and have kids dip a medium-sized brush into the paint color and splatter the color onto the tree. There are a couple of ways to splatter paint.

One way is to use your first two fingers, hold the paintbrush above your paper, and tap the paintbrush, splattering the paint onto your paper. The second technique is to tap the paintbrush onto your first two fingers.

You can see both techniques in the photo examples. Both of these techniques work great! Make sure kids load their brush up with lots of paint for the best results.

You want to remind kids that since they are layering a few colors on each tree that they don’t completely cover the tree with the first color they splatter on.

When splattering the paint on, think about splattering towards the top of the tree where the leaves would typically be to create a tree shape. Leave the bottom part of your paper mostly empty, with just the tree trunk.

Spring cherry blossom tree

For the spring cherry blossom tree, we used a light spring green, dark pink, and light pink acrylic paint. Splatter the light green first, then the dark pink and the light pink on top. This spring tree looks so pretty with the pink cherry blossom splatters!

Summer tree

For the summer tree, we used a dark bluish-green, a bright green, and a light green. Splatter on the dark green first, followed by the bright green and the light green on top. I love how these three different greens look together!

Autumn tree

We used red, orange, and yellow for our autumn tree colors. Start with the red first, then splatter the orange paint and finally add the yellow on top. The bright fall colors really work nicely together for this tree.

Winter tree

I love how the winter tree turned out with the icy blue and purple underneath the snowy white. Start by splattering on a lighter blue color, then add in a pastel purple and finally the white on top.

Kids will love making their own Action Art with this Pollock inspired splatter painting to create beautiful four season tree art.

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