Our little nugget wanted to create some Fourth of July art to hang up for the holiday, so I wracked my brain for a fun idea. That’s when this grand vision of us creating beautiful red, white, and blue fireworks, using the blow painting technique, popped into my head. And while the fireworks did not turn out exactly as I had envisioned, we still ended up with some stunning Fourth of July Blow Painting Process Art!
Here’s how it played out in my head…I wanted the fireworks to be bold and vibrant, so I decided that instead of using liquid watercolors (most commonly used for blow painting), I was going to use some thinned-out Tempera paint. I figured we would be able to drizzle the red, white, and blue paint onto a piece of card stock, and then spin the paper around as we blew through our straws. A patriotic firework would magically appear…right? Not exactly. π
Needless to say, we quickly gave up on the idea of fireworks, and decided to fully embrace the fun of creating process art. And boy, did we have fun! If you have yet to try the blow painting technique with your kiddos…it’s a must! There is nothing quite like painting, using only the air that you blow through a straw. We love it!
When all was said and done, we had one large patriotic canvas (that actually resembles an acrylic pour painting) and four mini red, white, and blue masterpieces. Our daughter took one look at the four mini paintings and declared them flowers…so, we cut them out and added some patriotic stems and leaves. And now, our dining room is decorated for the holiday!
Fourth of July Blow Painting Process Art
Supplies:
- Card Stock (we used white and blue)
- Tempera Paint (red, white, and blue)
- Floetrol (paint additive)
- Straws
Instructions:
- Start by thinning out your paint with 2 parts Tempera paint: 1 part Floetrol. I placed 2 tablespoons of each paint color into separate mini plastic cups (one for each color). Then I added 1 tablespoon of Floetrol to each cup and stirred until thoroughly combined.
- Place a blob of each paint color together on a piece of card stock. Grab your straws and start blowing. Feel free to spin your card stock around as you blow through the straws, to make it even more magical!
- If you want to create one large, continuous blow painting, just keep adding additional blobs of paint as you move around the entire piece of card stock.
- When you’re satisfied with your paintings, set them aside to dry completely.
- Once dry, hang on display…or…create a handful of patriotic flowers (instructions below).
Fourth of July Blow-Painted Patriotic Flowers
Supplies:
- Red, White, and Blue Blow Paintings (an assortment of mini blow paintings, as created above)
- Red & White Straws
- Blue Card Stock or Construction Paper
- Scissors
- Glue
Instructions:
- Using the scissors, carefully cut out your mini blow paintings. I decided to keep a small white border around each of ours.
- Place a dab of glue on the back of each flower, and firmly press one end of each straw into the glue.
- Cut two small leaves (for each flower) out of the blue card stock/construction paper.
- Glue the leaves to the stems (straws) of each flower.
- Set aside to let the glue dry completely.
- Hang on display, or place in a small vase on your dining room table!
We just love how this patriotic process art turned out! The colors blending together, as we blew the paint around on the paper, was simply mesmerizing. I loved how the paint looked when it was still wet…and it was as equally magnificent when it had dried completely.
Sometimes art projects fail to turn out the way you initially plan, but the masterpiece that you end up with just might be more magical and breathtaking than your original idea. I was pleasantly surprised with the end result of our Fourth of July Blow Painting Process Art! We are now looking forward to creating more Tempera blow paintings in the near future!
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!
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