I tend to get very excited about exploring the idea of negative space with the kids. Over the years, I have done so in many ways. Sometimes I need a lesson that is explores a concept in a fun way, and lasts exactly one hour, and doesn’t carry over into the following week, and so this is exactly what this was. It was a fun and easy way to explore atmospheric perspective and negative space together.
![Negative Space Watercolor Painting](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor10.jpg)
***This post contains affiliate links.***
One of my favorite places to purchase art supplies is DickBlick. Seriously, their deals are amazing, and the products are always great. For this project I used their brand liquid watercolor paint, and watercolor paper. I had also purchased some contact paper on Amazon.
In the past, I have allowed this project to be more open ended, and it has had some fantastic results. This time, however, I wanted to be more specific, so the kids had a choice between atmospheric perspective, or a radial design.
We started by taping our paper with masking tape. As well as our first wave or the initial layer of the radial design.
![Atmospheric Perspective](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor1.jpg)
![Negative Space Watercolor Painting](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor4.jpg)
Then on goes the first layer of paint.
![atmospheric perspective](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor2.jpg)
![Negative Space Watercolor Painting](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor5.jpg)
For this, I brought with me a hair dryer (which I had to borrow from a friend since I don’t have one), so that we can quickly dry the paint in between layers as opposed to waiting for it to dry on it’s own.
![Negative Space Watercolor Painting](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor3.jpg)
In between watercolor layers, I would wipe the excess liquid from the contact paper.
Keep going:
![atmospheric paintings](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor8.jpg)
Keep going:
![contact paper art](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor9.jpg)
Finally, allow it to dry, and take off the contact paper.
![Watercolor](https://www.happyfamilyart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NegativeSpaceWatercolor12.jpg)
I noticed that washing bits of this watercolor paint worked especially well, so we used that to add some details. Here are a few finished paintings:
I have used contact paper before, in this negative space word project. You also might like this art project.