Watercolor Washes with Salt Technique

A little while ago my sister in laws wonderful family and our family met up at my husband's parents house for a little family vacation. Since we all live in flying distance from each other, we cherish every opportunity we have to get together. Whenever there is a get together of course I always have to fit in an art project somehow. It is easy to do with both my husband's and my family, because we are all quiet the creative bunch.

While I was on vacation I just happened to bring the wonderful book, Just add Watercolor, by Helen Birch with me (you can read more about this book on my Artistically Shauna Blog HERE). A few of the gorgeous samples featured in the book inspired me to do a quick run to the closest store to my Father-In-Laws house, to pick up some watercolor paints and brushes for everyone to use. Note to self, next time bring our gazillion sets of watercolors with us on family vacations. 
Everyone had such a fun time. I taught everyone a little bit about watercolor basics, introduced them to washes in watercolor, we talked about warm and cool colors, and then we added a little magic to our paintings by sprinkling salt all over the wet paint. When the salt dried, it lifted up the pigment off of the paper, leaving a really neat textured effect.
I love how different everyone's paintings turned out. You can see close ups of the paintings below. The paintings are beautiful as is, but I told my daughters, nieces, and sister-in-law, that they could also add a drawing or a favorite quote on top of the dried washes for some extra fun. Looking at all of these pictures sure makes me miss our wonderful family. Love you guys!!!

Happy Painting!

This "Watercolor Washes with Salt Technique" first appeared on my blog, Learn and Grow Designs, on March 18, 2016.