Paul Galdone Inspired Ink & Watercolour Art for Kids

We are so happy to be getting back into the swing of things with this month's Virtual Book Club for Kids and the author and illustrator, Paul Galdone. My daughters had a wonderful time creating ink and watercolour art inspired by Galdone. There is something awesome about getting artistic inspiration from the books we read. Check out all of our amazing art projects for kids for more creative fun.

I have a little confession to make, I totally missed the Virtual Book Club for January. We simply didn't get around to getting crafty with the amazing author Laura Numeroff. If you would like to see all the activities and crafts that the other members of the VBCK created, head over to the Virtual Book Club for Kids website. The truth is that as my daughters get older I am working on finding different ways to connect and inspire them with the authors in this book club. Honestly, the books are generally picture books...but they are wonderful picture books...by incredible authors. When my kids were younger, and picture books were piling up around our house, I didn't have a blog, I didn't have access to all this information. Now, I want to expose my kids to these authors and illustrators. It might not be about developing little readers. As mature readers I hope they will look at the structure of the story, the use of language, the techniques used by the illustrator and so much more. There is more than one way to read and appreciate a book. So, we begin with this month's author Paul Galdone. Paul Galdone is an award winning author and illustrator who has brought to life some of the most famous fables and fairy tales. One of our favourite books of Galdone's is "The Three Little Kittens". He really is an artist. It is his artistry that we decided to focus on.

Paul Galdone created his illustrations using ink sketches with watercolour. We have never tried this technique before. It was time to give it a try. I started by having my eldest daughter sketch a picture, any picture, using a pen. We never sketch in ink...always in pencil. This was pretty exciting.

After the sketching was done, we brought out the watercolour paints. When I paint with my girls I always stick to only using primary colours (red, blue and yellow). Even though we own a beautiful array of watercolour paints, I think it is valuable knowing how to create your own colours from the primary colours. So, with the colours mixed, it was time to bring the image to life with paint and colour.

I love how her painting turned out.

My daughter loved the stars in the sky. The paint turned a 2D, basic image into a lively painting. When we looked back at Paul Galdone's illustrations, we could see how similar my daughter's painting was to his work. I even decided to get in on the fun. I love doodling...why not bring one of my doodles to life?