The Joy of Painting Step by Step

 

We love online step by step painting tutorials as homeschool art projects (I may have mentioned this in 2020 and 2021). 

First of all, everyone's painting of the same subject comes out completely differently. Each artist's style is all over each work of art. Just check out some of the many differences above.

Second, we learn a lot by doing step by step painting projects. While the end goal is to create a particular picture, the kids and I always learn painting techniques along the way that carry over into other projects. To name a few things we've learned: 

• to make leaves, reflections, snow on the top of a mountain, a background sky that fades from bright blue to lighter blue
• how to mix paints (or, rather, how to not mix them too much)
• to paint the canvas or spray it with water first to help the paints blend more smoothly
• to intentionally use the same brush without cleaning it sometimes
• how to make some trees and mountains look farther away or closer up
• all sorts of brush techniques, including holding your white-dipped brush above your painting and tapping it to make it look like it's snowing, and, using a bundle of Q-tips to make flower blossoms  

Each of these techniques we absorb makes us feel a little more adept at the skills of painting, and a little more likely to dream up our own picture and tackle a canvas on our own.

Third, of course, you get beautiful art to hang on the wall. We are always rotating the art work on display in our house, but a pretty canvas is one of the nicer, more polished pieces to decorate with.

Perhaps most importantly, doing a step by step painting project is a great opportunity to practice just trying our best and being patient with ourselves.   

Trying out Bob Ross's Joy of Painting Tutorials

This winter I had a paint and sip night at home with a friend. Since Bob Ross's classic The Joy of Painting show is available to stream on Amazon, we chose one of his paintings to do: "Mountain Lake." I always keep 11 x 14" canvases on hand for art projects, so we used those. Bob Ross uses oil paints. You can buy trademark Bob Ross oil paint sets (and brushes and tools...) online but they are pretty pricey. I don't use oil paints with the kids, and wasn't sure I wanted to use them myself either, so for this project we stuck with a nice set of heavy body acrylic paints we had. While they didn't include all the same colors or color names as Bob Ross's paints, some of them were the same and we could find something close enough for each step of the project. Two tools Bob Ross often uses are a fan brush, and a palette knife. I'd love to get those in the future to try them out, but we just used the variety of brushes in all sizes and shapes that I keep in a jar with our art supplies, and we made do just fine. While the episode was less than a half hour long, we ended up pausing the video a bunch of times to paint and then we'd watch a bit more, pause, paint, and so on. We were at it over two hours altogether but it was such a fun night. 

There's something about taking the time to do something just for the sake of being creative; as an adult I don't do that nearly enough and it's so fulfilling. One downside worth noting: I'd pictured an evening of sipping wine and chatting with my friend while painting, but we didn't do much talking (or wine drinking) because the painting itself took a lot of focus and effort! Our paintings are below; one came out looking like fall, while the other looks more like spring, and one of us oriented it horizontally and the other vertically. We both have a beautiful picture to hang in our houses now; the compliments from my family afterward were very ego-boosting to hear.

In the past, I'd watched a few Joy of Painting episodes with my kids, and they loved seeing the beautiful picture magically appear on the canvas and found it mesmerizing to watch and listen to, as I think many people do. My son went around afterward sharing some awesome Bob Ross quotes, his favorite being his unique encouragement about painting trees, which was something like: "sometimes these son of a guns don't want to come outta your brush, but you just gotta make 'em." You can't help but be charmed by his reverence for "almighty mountains," and of course his happy accidents, free clouds, and happy trees-- not to mention his hairdo. I can see watching Joy of Painting episodes when you just need a little encouragement in your life, whether or not you paint along. His entire message in all his gentle conversation as he paints is about the growth mindset, in an old-timey, grandfatherly kind of way. Bob Ross tells you that mistakes are okay, it doesn't have to be perfect, there's no wrong way to paint a tree/rock/cloud, just relax and try, don't agonize over every detail. It's so wonderful and soothing-- no wonder his show was on for 31 seasons.

Bob Ross's Joy of Painting with Kids

So, after my grown-up painting night, my son (11) was impressed with our results and eager to give a Bob Ross painting a try. Previously my kids have done several different online step by step painting projects, our favorites being from Step by Step Painting with Tracie Kiernan (see end of this post for pictures of one of those, as well as pandas and llamas above). Those projects are definitely simpler than Bob Ross's-- especially since she has a selection of paintings just for kids. But W was ready to try a little more of a challenge, so we went for it. Bob Ross's landscape pictures are all so pretty, it was hard to choose which one. My winter-loving son of course chose a snowy scene. 

We picked an afternoon when we didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time so we wouldn't feel rushed. We set up our area: the computer to play the episode, our canvases, all the brushes we own, a couple of paper towels, a cup of water for rinsing our brushes, a paper plate for each of us for mixing our paints. It went really well for a couple hours. We painted a background, mountains, clouds. It was so neat to see how different our paintings were turning out as we progressed; even though we'd both used the same two colors, the sky in each of our paintings showed two different moods entirely. 

Trying out his own technique for clouds

After a while, W started to get frustrated trying to paint his trees. He didn't like how his trees were turning out, so he painted over them and tried again. He proceeded to do this several times, getting more and more impatient with himself. I tried to remind him of Bob Ross's mantras. The trees don't need to be perfect. Everybody's trees will be different. Just go with it, relax, no pressure, it will all look good in the end as part of the whole painting. It was hard for him to hear any of that right then. He eventually walked away, took a break and a few breaths, and returned to paint a few last steps, and the paintings turned out great: 

I'm really glad my son and I tried out a Bob Ross painting. It was something creative we could do together. It was a chance to really focus on one thing for an extended period of time. It was a good challenge, for both of us. And, except for those few tense moments in the trees, it was a lot of fun. I think it's good to intentionally try new, hard things that stretch us and require persistence.

~

...Because of the time and challenge level, I think it was also a good choice that only my oldest tried the Bob Ross painting. But my daughter (7) didn't want to be left out of the painting fun. A few days later she and I painted beautiful, bright springy scenes of Mt. Fuji and cherry blossoms, from the StepbyStep painting site:  

In summary, any step by step painting project is a super fun, creative activity for all ages. Here's our tips on doing one, whichever source you choose.

Tips for Using Step by Step Painting Tutorials

1. Bob Ross paintings are best for adults and older kids-- tweens and up.
2. There are many good, free step by step painting sources online. Tracy Kiernan's site is a favorite for all ages, and better for younger kids.  
3. Clear a big surface area before starting the project.
4. Gather your tools: acrylic paints, brushes, water cup, paper towels, canvas, device to watch or read instructions from.
5. Acrylics work for Bob Ross paintings, even though he uses oil.
6. Don't worry if you don't have the exact tools or exact colors that the instructor does. Just use whatever you have that's close.
7. It's your painting; it's okay to choose a different color or to make other choices differently than the instructor.  
8. Watch, pause, paint, repeat. Don't try to paint and watch at the same time.
9. Make sure you have a significant chunk of open, free time before you start a painting-- two to three hours. It's no fun if you have to either rush, or have to clean it up and get it back out a second time. 
10. It's most fun if everyone painting agrees to do the same painting. Once I tried letting each of my kids choose a painting they wanted to do and I supervised and helped both of them pause and start their video on separate devices as needed. It was a little overwhelming for me to keep tabs on what step each of them was on, and they each felt in their own world (plus, I didn't get to paint myself). Much more fun to see your companions' different but similar pictures appearing next to yours and be able to encourage each other along, step by step. 
11. Try not to get frustrated and just have fun with it.

Fan Mail Writing Unit

Who doesn't love getting mail? That was part of the motivation behind a letter-writing mini unit I did with my 11-year-old recently. 

We had just finished a stand-up-comedy unit, and that was fun but quite challenging, so he was ready for something a little more straightforward. He's always talking about his favorite authors and entertainers and what he wishes he could ask them. So I figured it would be a good time to brush up on letter-writing skills and give him a chance to do something he wanted to do anyway. It was a success- both engagement-wise and in the results he's gotten: three letters back from people he admires just this week (less than a month since he sent them out)!  

Here is how the unit went. 

Writing Mini Unit: Letter Writing 

W focused on writing fan mail to some authors and celebrities, but we could have done this letter writing unit on any theme, or even just written to family and friends. 

Length of Time: his daily writing time for about two weeks 

Getting Ready 

I had W brainstorm people he'd like to write to. He used a mind map template I found online, but we could have easily sketched our own. It was a graphic organizer that provided space for him to write names of people, and space to brainstorm a couple of questions or comments to write to each person. I encouraged him to think about why he really wanted to write to each person, and jot down any burning questions or specific appreciations/compliments. 

It was handy he took the time to do this mind mapping to organize his thinking up front; as the unit went on, he referred back to it several times.     

Learning about Types of Letters and Format

Together we first listed some qualities that make a good letter. We covered things like: 

• include a balance of talking about yourself and asking questions
• use a friendly tone
• think about your audience (level of familiarity with them, as well as what they would find funny or interesting)
• proofread
• be polite
• spell out acronyms
• be clear and coherent

Then we read through this site to help W learn about the difference between a friendly letter (informal) and a formal letter. The site gave some helpful advice about when to use each type and characteristics of each. The most helpful thing was that it showed the format of each with examples. W was planning to write to authors and entertainers he admires, so we decided an informal letter tone worked fine. But we used the format of a formal letter-- Mr./Ms. in the greeting, because he didn't personally know them, and their contact info and ours at the top of the page to increase his chances of getting responses back! 

Write!

He got to work writing and carried on independently every day from that point on. Each time he finished one letter, he would have me read through it just "to make sure it sounds okay." W often would have a great letter, but feel unsure about how to end it. I gave him simple suggestions for how to wrap them up: well wishes like "Have a good spring!" or a call to action like, "I hope to hear back from you soon!", and that sort of thing. He would save the finished letter and begin writing another to the next person on his list till he had finished all six or so letters.  

Finding Addresses and Other Logistics 

Many of W's recipients were authors. We found a site (here) that gave some good tips on finding author addresses in general. First we looked for the author's official web site. There were often specific instructions there on how to write to them, as well as FAQs so he could avoid asking a question that had already been answered. When authors did not have a web site or an address was not given, we wrote to authors in care of their publisher's name and address, which is listed in the front of any of their books. In the end we found a few other ways to reach people: 

One person W wanted to write to was a comedian, so we sent the letter to him in care of his management agency. Fingers crossed. 

Many popular figures have a Facebook page through which you can "message" them, but W wanted to send real letters in hopes of getting a real hard-copy letter back, so we stuck with snail mail options. 

In one case, our letter (in care of a publisher) was returned, so we then emailed the author through the contact form on his web site-- and got an emailed personal response within two days! 

It was a bit of a hunt sometimes but we found a way to contact each person on his list. 

When sending snail mail, it's wise to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope in your letter to increase your chances of getting a letter back. We made sure to stick one of those inside each of W's letters (we even included an SASE with a global stamp on it for an author he wrote to overseas). 

Wait and Hope

We decided it would be fun to finish writing all the letters, then send them all on the same day and see who we heard back from first. A little contest W's idols didn't know they were participating in. 

The speediest response was from Stuart Gibbs, author of the fun Spy School series. W has read all the Spy School books, but especially loved Spy Ski School since he is obsessed with skiing; Mr. Gibbs was kind enough to answer each and every one of W's skiing-specific questions. 

Next we received an email response from awesomely entertaining and semi-local-to-us nonfiction author, Steve Sheinkin. W asked him some writing advice and Sheinkin gave him some. 

Third, and, W says, best so far, was a package all the way from England from Stephen Beisty, author and illustrator of incredibly detailed and informative Cross Section picture books such as Castle and Man-of-War. (He didn't use the SASE we included; he paid 4 pounds in order to send a large envelope and include a photo.) W has been checking his books out of the library for years and keeping them out way too long each time, and he was in awe to see a photo of the artist's actual studio.

W is still waiting and hoping to hear from a few others (i.e., checking the mailbox promptly every day certain that a reply from Lin-Manuel Miranda will be in there). He has been incredibly rewarded by the responses he's gotten so far: Personal letters! Signatures! Photographs! Answers to his questions! Turns out even well known, successful people like to be appreciated. 

Going forward, I might make writing letters to those we admire an annual mini unit for both my kids. We all need more fun mail in our lives.