This is such a fun art project! My daughter loved making her ghosts appear with this simple watercolor resist. We used bright colors for a fun, non-scary Halloween craft. We had a lot of fun drawing our ghosts and “oooo’s” and “boo’s” with white oil pastels.
This would make a great classroom Halloween activity, you only need a few simple supplies and most kids are able to make this without much assistance. Check out my awesome watercolor painting for kids post for more fun and creative ideas kids will love!
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!
Make Your Own Watercolor Resist Ghost Painting
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Supplies
- Watercolor paper (white cardstock would also work)
- Watercolor paint
- Paint palette
- Paintbrushes
- white oil pastels
Instructions
1. Get your paper ready. We used watercolor paper for this project, but if you are doing this as a classroom project, white cardstock would also work. I cut our watercolor paper in half so each piece was 11 x 7.5 inches.
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2. Using white oil pastels, draw out your ghost picture. Be sure to include lots of “oooo’s” and “boo’s”! If your white oil pastel has other colors on it, rub it on some scrap paper to make it white again to avoid those colors rubbing off onto your painting.
3. Mix up your watercolor paints. We used 2 colors per picture. You want to make sure that your colors are bright enough so that there will be enough of a contrast between the paint and the white pastels. Test out your colors on a piece of scrap paper first and make them darker if needed.
Related: Delightfully Spooky DIY Halloween Lanterns
4. Paint your watercolors on your paper and watch your ghosts appear! Using a larger brush makes painting the whole paper easier. Use both of your colors and watch them mix and blend together as they dry.
I love how bright and colorful this watercolor resist ghost painting turned out. This technique is so fun for kids, they love watching their drawing appear as they paint!
More Halloween Projects you might like
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[…] You can see how we used this technique in these Sticker Resist Watercolor Valentine Bookmarks. And I just love how this Watercolor Easter Egg Art with Stickers turned out. We have also done an oil pastel resist technique with these Surprise Ghost Paintings. […]