This sunset silhouette watercolor painting will have kids exploring blending with watercolors and using a wet-on-wet technique. Kids can choose their own color combinations and silhouette ideas, making each art project unique. This is a great summer art activity that kids will have fun creating!
There are so many fun watercolor techniques for kids to try! Take a look at my collection of watercolor painting for kids for more fun and creative ideas.
For another beautiful sunset art idea, take a look at these chalk pastel sunsets where kids will learn and practice pastel blending and layering techniques.
Create your own art/craft
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you would like more information please review my privacy & disclosure policy.
Supplies
- Watercolor paper
- Wooden board (optional)
- Painter’s tape
- Watercolor paint (I used liquid watercolor paint)
- White acrylic paint (if you are doing the skyline painting)
- Paintbrushes
- Pencil and eraser
- Paint palette and water dish
- Paper towels
Instructions for your summer art project
1. First, you want to prepare your paper. If you have a wooden board, you can use painter’s tape to tape your paper down. This will help with the paper buckling and moving around as kids paint.
If you don’t have a wooden board you can tape your paper down to a desk or just skip this step.
2. Prepare your watercolor paints in a paint palette. I used liquid watercolors for this project and diluted the colors (except for yellow) with a bit of water.
It’s a good idea to have scrap paper handy to test out your colors. As your paper dries, the colors will dry a bit lighter.
I used three colors per project for the sunset background. As the colors mix together they will create new colors and shades.
If you are looking for more summer art projects, take a look at this amazing collection of summer art ideas for kids!
3. Paint your paper with water using a clean brush. You want your paper to be wet but not soaking. Then start to paint your first color at the bottom of your paper.
4. Paint on your second color, slightly overlapping your first color to begin to blend the colors together. As the colors mix and dry, they will create different shades and a nice blend.
This technique is called a wet on wet watercolor technique. For more details and to learn about other easy watercolor techniques kids can try take a look at these 5 easy watercolor techniques for kids!
5. Finally paint your third color towards the top of your paper, overlapping with the previous color.
While the paint is still wet, kids can go over any areas they like and try blending the colors together more or adding in more paint to darken up a color.
Let your paper completely dry on a flat surface before moving on to the next step.
6. Have kids decide on what they want to paint for the silhouettes. They can use my examples as guides or come up with their own ideas.
Using a pencil lightly draw in your design. It can be challenging to erase pencil lines over a painted background, so remind kids to press lightly with their pencils.
7. Prepare your black liquid watercolor paint in a paint palette. You do not have to dilute the paint for this step.
Use a small detail brush and begin carefully painting your silhouettes. Using a smaller round brush will make this step easier for kids to paint in details and get crisp lines.
8. If you are painting the skyline picture, use white acrylic paint and a small brush to paint the moon and dot on some stars.
9. Once you are done painting everything, let your project dry completely, and then carefully remove the painter’s tape around the outside of your paper.
This sunset silhouette watercolor painting is a fun summer art activity and a great way for kids to learn and explore blending with watercolors!
More summer art projects kids will love
Follow me on Pinterest for more amazing project ideas.
Pin this art project for later
Sunset Silhouette Watercolor Painting Idea for Kids
Kids will learn to blend with watercolors and use a wet-on-wet technique to make these gorgeous sunset watercolor paintings. A fun art activity for summer!
Materials
- Watercolor paper
- Painter’s tape
- Watercolor paint (I used liquid watercolor paint)
- White acrylic paint (if you are doing the skyline painting)
- Paper towels
Tools
- Wooden board (optional)
- Paintbrushes
- Pencil and eraser
- Paint palette and water dish
Instructions
- First you want to prep your paper. Tape down your watercolor paper to a wooden board or a desk. This will help the paper to dry flat and not move around as kids are painting. This is an optional step. If you do not have a wooden board or are able to tape your paper down to a table that's fine.
- Prepare your watercolor paint in a palette. If you are using liquid watercolors, you can dilute the colors with water. Make sure to test your colors on a scrap piece of paper first, colors will always dry a bit lighter. I diluted all of my colors except yellow.
If you are using a watercolor pan set, then you can simply use the colors straight from the set without diluting if you like. I used three colors for each sunset. - Begin by painting your paper with clean water. You want your paper to be wet but not soaking.
- Start with one color and paint it on your paper at the bottom. Continue with your second color. Paint it on your paper, slightly overlapping the first color.
The wet paper will begin to mix and blend the two colors together.
Finish off your sunset background by painting on your third color, again slightly overlapping with the previous color to begin to blend everything together.
While the paint is still wet, kids can go over any areas they like and try blending the colors together more or adding in more paint to darken up a color.
When they are finished with their sunset, let it dry completely on a flat surface. - Use a pencil to lightly draw in you silhouette design.
- Prepare your black watercolor in a palette(if you are using liquid watercolors). You do not need to dilute the black watercolor paint.
Using a smaller round brush, carefully paint your silhouettes with the black watercolor paint. - If you are doing the skyline project, you will need white acrylic paint. Paint in the moon and dot on some stars with white acrylic paint.
- Let everything dry completely and then carefully remove the tape from around the edges of your paper.
