Artistic representations of lessons is a common practice in Waldorf education. Often, main lessons will include an illustration. While we have used various art mediums from chalks to watercolors, we often settle with color pencils in middle school and crayons in the early years. In addition to various art mediums, there are art techniques like wet-on-wet watercoloring, charcoal drawing, perspective drawing, and veil painting. The type of paper used for both art and artistic representations of lessons depends on the art medium and the goals of the project. While I have used both Strathmore and Fabriano watercolor papers the most in the years of homeschooling, recently I learned of the Mercurius line of watercolor and drawing paper and I have been loving them so much.
It all started when I went looking for the watercolor paper I used in Waldorf teacher training. The paper was large, but not as large as the big paper I use on special occasions, but it was larger than my everyday watercolor paper. It was good quality, but not thick. I loved how the paintings looks using and after. The paper is from Mercurius and it’s just right for everyday projects, main lessons, and guided paintings. It’s called Mercurius Watercolor Paper 150 gsm.
Watercolor Paper Mercurius 150 gsm. A medium weight, watercolor paper, suitable for all painting boards. For best results use a smooth surface. Available in a smaller size and counts of 100 and 200 sheets. Acid-free.
I also used wax crayons during teacher training and loved the versatility of these crayons because they felt like color pencils. I went to buy them and accidently bought the wrong item. These oil crayons from the Danish company Filia have been a classic for decades. The lightfast colors are transparent and mix very well. They offer many interesting painting and drawing techniques. With a sponge and turpentine, it is possible to “watercolor paint” with these hard, oil crayons.
I also used wax crayons during teacher training and loved the versatility of these crayons because they felt like color pencils. I went to buy them and accidently bought the wrong item. These oil crayons from the Danish company Filia have been a classic for decades. The lightfast colors are transparent and mix very well. They offer many interesting painting and drawing techniques. With a sponge and turpentine, it is possible to “watercolor paint” with these hard, oil crayons.
I ended up getting color pencils by Koh-i-Noor and loved them! Progresso Lacquered Woodless Colored Pencils Box Koh-I-Noor. Progresso Woodless Colored Pencils have a thin outer coating in place of a wooden body. The color application is generous, allowing the artist to create multiple layers and to mix colors. Available in 12 or 24 assortments in a cardboard box. Cardboard box, 12 pencils, length: 6.1 inches (155 mm), diameter: 0.3 inch (7.5 mm), lacquered, 12 assorted colors. color: black | blue | brown | green | light blue | light green | magenta | orange | red | violet | white | yellow
Lyra Special Fine Art Pencil Set 12 Pack , Lyra Unlacquered Color Giant Skin Tones Assortment – 12 Assorted Skin Tones 12 Pack Graphite pencils, Graphite Charcoal pencils, and Drawing/Painting Paper 12.8″ x17.3″ 160 g 50 Sheets .
I love our Stockmar Paints and this time I got nearly every color! List of Stockmar watercolor paints Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Carmine Red Art. 85043001 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Vermilion Art. 85043002 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Golden Yellow Art. 85043004 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Lemon Yellow Art. 85043005 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Blue Green Art. 85043008 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Ultramarine Art. 85043010 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Red Violet (Purple) Art. 85043012 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Rust Art. 85043013 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Black Art. 85043015 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – White Art. 85043016 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Prussian Blue Art. 85043018 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Cobalt Blue Art. 85043019 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Indigo Art. 85043031 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Orange Art. 85043033 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Mauve Art. 85043034 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Turquoise Art. 85043035 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Sap Green Art. 85043036 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Burnt Sienna Art. 85043037 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Fire Red Art. 85043038 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
- – Circle Red Art. 85043051 Stockmar Watercolour Paint
- – Florentine Red Art. 85043060 Stockmar Watercolour Paint 20 ml
Watercolor Paint Palette
Ever wondered what the rainbow of Stockmar watercolor paints look like? For nearly 20 years, I thought these paints only came in six colors. I would use those colors to mix green, purple, plum and brown as well as variations within those colors. To my delight, I recently learned they come in far more colors! I ordered the whole rainbow plus black and white! The paint palette is ceramic and contains 22 wells for paints plus 6 large wells for mixing paints.
I wasn’t sure how well putting the paints in this paint palette would work either short or long term, but so far it’s been great! The paints dry up within a day or two which is perfect as I didn’t want them growing mold or sloshing around if the paint pallet got moved or bumped. With a few drops of water, the paint is ready to do. With the large well, we can easily mix paint. The one thing we haven’t done yet is clean it thoroughly and start again.
Color Swatch Stockmar Watercolor Paints
Having a rainbow of colors for art isn’t always necessary as many colors can be made when combining the primary colors. However, without white and black, some colors just simply cannot be achieved. What I’ve noticed with the 20 colors of stockmar concentrated watercolors is that you can actually achieve a wide range of secondary colors with the three primary colors of lemon yellow, carmine red and ultramarine blue. If if you use prussian blue instead of ultramarine blue, you’ll get a different green or purple.
You can certainly play with mixing colors, or you may buy the concentrated assortment of Stockmar watercolor paints which include white, black and my three favorites: rust, siena and indigo. While you may achieve the brown tones of siena and rust by mixing the primary colors together, you cannot get indigo. The deep blue of indigo is beautiful and versatile, but curiously, the blues mis lighter and less intense than the reds and yellows. While I found that a ratio of 1:6 paint to water was suitable, I needed a higher concentration of paint to water to get the richness I needed with indigo and the other blues.
Homeschool Haul | A Child’s Dream
When it comes to homeschooling and educational supplies, A Child’s Dream is one vendor I’ve been shopping at for years. As we conclude our final years, I’m sharing some materials that have been especially useful throughout our years of education. The Stockmar crayons have been a mainstay for us for over 20 years. In fact, I still have my set from grade 1 back in the early 1980s. Granted my block crayons are no more than nubs, but they still work! In this homeschool haul, I share a new-to-me set of Mercurius chalks, the tried and true main lesson books (plus a couple new ones!), every Stockmar crayon color and a felt chalkboard eraser. Astronomy Blank Main Lesson Book, Main Lesson or Drawing Book – Portrait Format, Main Lesson or Drawing Book – Landscape Format, Main Lesson Book for Middle School, Main Lesson or Journal Book – Small.