Watercolor Techniques Cat Art Project

This is a simple way to paint a cat and also to experiment with watercolor techniques.

The students will draw the cat outline taking up most of the space on their watercolor paper.  Note that the cat is more to the right side of the paper.  

After they draw the outline they will draw the whiskers and the eyes.  To help with the placement of the whiskers they can draw a nose and erase it later.

I used Colourless Art Masking Fluid for Watercolor paper by Winsor & Newton.  The students will use a small brush to paint the masking fluid onto the whiskers and eyes.  This will block any paint from the paper in the painted areas.  It's a fun technique because it's almost magical to use.

Once the masking fluid is dry the students do a black watercolor wash over the cat.  When that is a little bit dry, but not all the way they can come in with the background colors.  It's alright if the cat and the background bleed together a bit.  It just makes the cat look fuzzy/furry.

When they are happy with the background they can drop a few pieces of salt into the sky to create stars.  They will need to go back in with the black and re-do their cat shape so it doesn't get too blurry.

The painting needs to be completely dry before the masking fluid is removed.  It just rubs off with the fingertips.  Once the initial layer is removed put one drop of masking fluid into the top center of each 

eye.  Now using green (or whatever color they want to use for the eye) fill in the eye shape with color.

When the green is dry use a fine tip brush to do an upside down triangle for the black iris with the masking fluid in the top center.

When the eyes are completely dry remove the drop of masking fluid and the cat is finished.  

The students have learned several watercolor techniques while creating their semi abstract cats.