Teaching Painting

A blog to help Steiner school class teachers with painting lessons in the lower school.

'The children gain flexible inner images, flexible feelings and flexible actions of will from these experiences of colour. Everything in their soul becomes more flexible' - Rudolf Steiner.

Introduction
by Antoinette Reynolds

Painting is one of the core subjects with which new Steiner Waldorf class teachers have to familiarize themselves and one which is particularly close to the heart of Diana Westlake and myself. Diana and I are both experienced class teachers. Diana (now retired), taught at Michael Hall and at the Brighton Steiner School, in Sussex in south east England, where she was a founding teacher and I have taken two classes through at Michael Hall. Both of us are very aware how daunting this subject can be for a new class teacher and had the idea that, by writing a short introduction on painting in the classroom, we might offer some support and encouragement to those who are new to this subject.

Originally it was Diana’s intention to produce a short booklet – something user friendly, easy to handle and cheap to buy, to give some initial guidance – and she asked me to help her. We both recognize that although there are some excellent books available on the subject if one has the time to read them (and money to pay for them!), they don’t necessarily address some of the simplest questions. We came to the conclusion, however, that rather than produce a booklet, a blog might be more helpful. A blog can easily be accessed all over the world, it costs nothing and, best of all, it enables people to add comments and share some of their children’s work.

So why do we paint with the children? First of all, painting deeply nourishes the soul and provides a healthy out-breathing, creating an inner flexibility. It acts as a balance not only to the more intellectual subjects taught at school but, even more importantly, to the inevitably technological and digital environment in which children are growing up. Secondly, although its purpose is certainly not to make great painters of our children, it is clear that over a long period of time it does address and help to develop an aesthetic sense in them. Last, but not least, experiencing colours that are free to move and blend is both joyful as well as stimulating.

Teaching painting can feed the teacher quite as much as the pupils and the more he or she enjoys it the more the pupils will too. Remember, you needn’t be a trained artist in order to develop the important qualities that will benefit the children. Fundamentally, like all good teaching, it comes down to careful preparation.

Preparation - Outer

Although the physical preparation remains much the same for most of the Lower School classes, let us assume for now that we are preparing for a Class 1 painting lesson. Before you begin to set up it is advisable that the children put on aprons; an old shirt from mum or dad with shortened arms, elasticated at the ends, is ideal. Next you will need the following for each child:

•         A painting board (hardboard works well) – approximately 50 x 35cm. (There needs to be a class board rack to accommodate these, into which the boards slide horizontally)
•          A good quality flat, bristle brush, about one and a half cm wide
•         A small sponge
•         A sheet of good quality watercolour paper cut to fit comfortably on the board  (about 45 x 30cm)

It works well if the children work in pairs (decided by you!) Each pair will need:

•         Two jam jars filled with water (to be shared – see below)
•         Red, yellow and blue Stockmar organic watercolour paints mixed with some water and placed in small glass jars or other suitable containers. Stockmar make wooden palettes in which six small glass jars (also supplied by them) fit snugly and safely. Stockmar supply two yellows (lemon and golden), two reds (vermilion and crimson) and two blues (prussian and ultramarine). Some teachers like to mix the two yellows, reds and blues; others prefer to keep them separate – that is the teacher’s choice – so they will start with a palette with three or six jars of paints.

NB.Although the six colours comprise the full Stockmar Lower School watercolour range, this doesn’t mean that all the colours are handed out for every lesson. The teacher will decide which colours are to be used and the palettes are prepared accordingly. In fact, in Class 1 only two colours might be used at a time to begin with.

The preparation of the paints needs to be done well before the lesson. The paint can be mixed in a large jar, such as used for mayonnaise or pickle (approximately four tbs. of paint to 500ml of water – although strengths can vary) and well stirred or shaken. These can be stored in the classroom cupboard, with the exception of the ultramarine (purply-blue), which quickly becomes very smelly once mixed with water and is best stored in a fridge if there is one available. The teacher will then fill the small palette jars with the range that is to be used, ready for the tasked children to hand out.

At the beginning of the lesson, before the set up begins, the teacher will have placed each sheet of paper in a large tray with sufficient water to cover all the paper once immersed. Each sheet must be put in one at a time to ensure it is immersed in water on both sides. The sheets stay in the tray while the set up takes place. I shall explain later why we use wet paper and the rather liquid paints, known as the ‘wet on wet’ technique.

NB. Not all teachers prepare the paper in this way. The children can also be handed out a dry sheet of paper, which they dampen themselves on both sides, using their wetted sponges.

It is good practice to allocate tasks to the children, i.e. handing out paints, sponges, brushes and/or collecting them at the end. Tasks help to engage the children in what they are doing and makes for a well organised and efficient use of time. Once everything is set up, children can individually carry their painting boards up to the tray and the teacher carefully places the paper onto their boards, ensuring the paper lies flat and is not too wet. The children soon learn how to do this for themselves – too much sponging down will produce rough, bobbly paper and too little may result in air bubbles and unevenness in the paper.

It is very important that, during this preparation time, the atmosphere is quiet and harmonious – filled with anticipation rather than excitement. A peaceful song helps or some quiet humming in unison, but no unnecessary talking. If the teacher’s expectations are very clear, the children will respond. If an accident happens (a jar of water is knocked over, for instance) it is best if the teacher clears it up without fuss, in order to minimise any disturbance in the atmosphere. Always have a mop, buckets and a dustpan and brush at the ready, as accidents do happen. They will also be needed for clearing up time.

Arrangements will have been made to keep those who finish early usefully occupied. (See Clearing Up)

Preparation – Inner

This is equally, if not more, important. The teacher must have given some thought to what is going to be painted and how it is to be presented.

A little colour story or imaginative picture will hugely enhance the experience the children will have of their painting and will bring the colours to life. ‘Blue’ and ‘Yellow’ can have a little conversation or ‘Blue’ might be feeling a little lonely until it is joined by ‘Red’ his friend; it might be that they are taken on an imaginary flight with a golden sun in the sky surrounded by a blue sky, or that they are butterflies flitting from one colour to another. Or the children might be given a seasonal theme, such as a fat, orange pumpkin resting among green foliage.The possibilities are endless. The story should be simple, not too contrived and a bit of humour too will help the children to engage. It is important that the teacher has painted the ‘scene’ the day before, so that he/she speaks from real experience, as the children will be aware of that, albeit unconsciously.

Although a double period (well over an hour) will be allocated for a painting lesson, the actual painting part will probably not take more than ten minutes – at least in Class 1! This should be done in complete silence, and the concentration and deep engagement, even amongst six year olds, is wonderful to observe.

In Classes 1 and 2 the teacher will work entirely with colour exercises. Red with blue, blue with red, yellow and blue etc., at first working only with the primary colours (red, yellow and blue) and later mixing these to produce the secondary colours (orange, purple and green) and brown, culminating in painting a rainbow colour circle. It is by means of these exercises that the children experience and learn a great deal about colour – their moods, qualities, tones and the effects of their combinations. At this stage they also acquire the basic painting skills which will enable them, from Class 3 onwards, to begin to paint pictures from the curriculum.

The ‘What?’ and ‘How?’ of painting

Although many children will have painted before (perhaps at Kindergarten or at home), once they enter the Lower School a certain formality needs to enter the lesson. First of all they learn to respect the tools. 

The brushes are of a good quality and need to be handled well and be looked after properly. The children are taught how to hold them

and how to brush gently before any paint is applied. A good way to practise this is by getting them to gently brush the back of their free hand or cheek.

Once everything is in place, the teacher might get everyone to stand up for a little painting verse and then the lesson is ready to begin. Here is an example of one such verse:

‘There’s a bridge of wondrous light,

Filled with colours shining bright,

Red and orange, yellow, green,

The fairest colours ever seen;

Blue and violet, magic rose,

Down from heaven to earth it goes.’

Alternatively, you can make up your own. Some teachers don’t recite one at all but younger children are helped to enter into a quiet, reverent mood by a verse and in my experience it is good. One more thing to think about before the actual painting starts: do you want the children to sit down or stand up while painting? Some teachers might allow either.

The teacher now guides the children towards a certain colour by means of a little story and will ask the children to dip the brush carefully into the chosen colour. If the brush has soaked up too much paint (this very commonly happens) the children can dab the brush carefully on their sponge to get rid of the excess. They then follow their teacher by placing the brush onto the paper to start painting. The strokes should be small and as controlled as possible. Some children will want to paint very long strokes as though they are painting a wall (!), others will immediately start ‘drawing’ shapes and outlines; still others will feel afraid to allow the paint to touch the pristine white paper. Through example, the teacher will show how small and delicate dabs of colour will slowly build up the shape. In Classes 1 and 2, in which painting consists entirely of doing colour exercises, it is particularly important that the children are kept free from pre-conceived notions and don’t try to paints ‘things’. The colours ‘play’ together, sometimes mixing, sometimes not (depending on the story); they are painting a mood and not a scene or an object.

Here are some examples from Class 1:

It is very important that children are taught early on how to clean their brush before dipping it into a fresh colour. They place their brush first into one water jar (without pushing it down too hard against the bottom as that damages the brush) and then dip them into the second jar, to ensure the brush is doubly clean. The children can carefully squeeze out the excess water in the brush between thumb and index finger and/or dab the brush onto their (clean) sponge. The brushes are now ready to receive another colour. Brush cleaning is an important technique and it will take a while before it is fully acquired, so be prepared for the palette jars to become ‘dirty’ to begin with. These will have to be washed out and replenished with fresh paint before the next lesson. If the children manage well, the palette jars can be reused for the next time.

Accidents

These do happen, of course... 

A child might spill or splash paint or water on his or her painting or on that of their desk partner. The wisest course of action is to make as little fuss as possible. The teacher carefully dabs the unwanted paint/water off the paper with a clean sponge or cloth and then continues with the lesson. On the extremely rare occasion that the paper has been irrevocably damaged, it might be best, quietly and firmly, to replace it with a fresh sheet. However, starting again, with fresh paper, should not happen merely if a child is not happy with their painting, as it is also part of the learning process that things can go wrong and that valuable lessons can be learned from mistakes for next time.

Clearing Up

This is quite a challenge, although much diminished if carefully planned beforehand. 

The children will finish their paintings at different times but the fast ones will need to be taught to retain the quiet mood for those classmates who take their time. This is a good time for picture books (or quiet reading for the older ones), modelling or drawing, so the teacher will need to think carefully how this part of the lesson should be orchestrated. How do the children indicate that they have finished without causing a disturbance? Should they be asked to place their paintings in the board rack or do they wait until everyone has finished? Do they have a book or some plasticine or modelling wax ready in their desks or do they get up and fetch these from the bookshelf or cupboard? Do they settle in the story corner (if there is one)? Do they begin to tidy up their equipment, or wait? These are questions that each teacher will need to decide on individually, bearing in mind that ideally the quiet atmosphere is retained.

Once everyone has finished and has carefully placed their paintings in the board rack (one row or table at a time works well), individual children are again given tasks – to collect brushes, sponges, palettes with paints and water jars, while the rest of the class carries on reading, modelling or drawing quietly at their desks. Too many people up and about at one time inevitably cause an unnecessary rumpus. Brushes need to be rinsed well, as do the sponges and water jars before being put back in the cupboard. This is of course easier if there is a sink in the classroom but often there isn’t and the teacher will need to be prepared for that with buckets – an empty one for dirty water and one or two with clean water for rinsing brushes, sponges and jars. Last of all, a couple of children are given the task of wiping down residual water or paint off the desks. Once everything has been cleared away, there may be time for the teacher to read a few pages from a story book that he/she has on the go – always a popular way to fill a few spare minutes before it is time for the lesson to end.

Reviewing the paintings

The paintings usually take a good twenty four hours to dry, after which the teacher removes them from the boards and pins them up on the classroom wall. They might be hung in neat rows or perhaps in groups, for reviewing purposes, and invariably cheer up the classroom no end.

 The children always find it very exciting to see their fresh paintings up and during main lesson time the following day, some time is spent with the whole class eagerly looking at the paintings and sharing ideas, thoughts and inspirations about them. The teacher shares observations such as ‘Do you see how that little patch of red here is trying to push the blue out of the way? Very different to the red in this one, which has become friendly with the blue and has taken a bit of its colour, do you see?’ Or ‘Has anyone got an idea why I might have put this little group of paintings together? Do you remember what I said about Green?’ etc. etc. The purpose here is to elicit an understanding of colour and how colours relate to and affect one another, for children to become sensitive to colour moods and how some colours have a tendency to dominate. The children themselves come up with wonderful, insightful comments too: ‘That yellow in that painting looks so sunny and happy!’ or ‘That picture makes me feel as if I’m in a forest’ etc. etc. It is important to steer the children away from making critical or judgemental comments such as ‘I really like this one’ even if they are being positive as it is not the critical faculties that we are trying to educate at this stage. Children are understandably also extremely sensitive about their creations, so one has to be careful. By praising one child for having managed to paint two colours without them mixing (if that was the task) is enough to teach another child who didn’t manage so well in that exercise to try harder next time. It is important to work with descriptive praise (‘Look, you can really see the delicate brush strokes here – they look like little blue waves’) and positive reinforcement. If a child has had a bad experience the previous week, actively seek out something extra positive (albeit true) that you can comment on the following week; in this way you build confidence and empower the children.

Paintings don’t have to remain on the walls for too long – a couple of weeks is enough, as there usually isn’t enough wall space. If there is space, a teacher could leave one painting from each week on the wall, making sure it is from a different child each time of course. In this way the class can enjoy the progression of exercises over a longer period of time.

Class 3 and Beyond

By Class 3 (aged 9) the children have made sufficient progress in handling the different techniques to enable them to begin creating form out of colour.

Moreover, at this age the children are beginning to develop a real interest in the world around them, so it is natural that they move from mere colour exercises to depicting the world around them in form. The painting techniques, nevertheless, stay the same. Shapes come into being not by painting an outline of the object but by placing a patch of colour on the paper and extending it, to create characteristics like the legs of an octopus or the horns of a cow lying in a meadow, for instance. In the case of the cow, one could begin by covering the entire surface of the paper with a light wash of ultramarine. The upper part will be the sky while the lower part could then be painted over with lemon yellow, creating a green meadow, making sure that a roundish patch of blue remains, which will take the shape of a cow lying down. A little vermilion could help to enhance the cow shape by creating shadow and a three dimensional quality, as well as giving it a brownish hue. By this time the teacher will have acquired some technical skill and, by means of a little experimentation, will be able to develop the skills to bring out form.

Another valuable technique is ‘painting out’. A white bird in a blue sky will be more alive and will give the impression of flight more successfully if one starts with a blue sky and then, with a dry, clean brush, and paints out the blue to allow a bird to emerge. Depending on what one is aiming to paint it is often effective to begin with a light wash in a particular colour, covering the entire sheet of paper. This creates a mood, provides a background which doesn’t then have to be added later and enables one to build colour upon colour to create depth. Thus, when painting a flower, one might start with a warm, sunny wash and against that warmth bring out the shape of the flower. The background must start off light though, so that the possibilities remain open. It goes without saying that these skills are only gradually acquired by the children and take a lot of practice, not least by the teacher, who can guide and help them with small steps at a time.

Topics and Themes

In Class 3 the Old Testament stories provide a rich source of subject matter.

Many teachers begin with the seven days of creation during the Old Testament main lesson. 

The Third Day of Creation

The Fifth Day of Creation

The expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (Genesis)

Archangel Michael wielding his sword...

Below are some wonderful renditions of Noah's Ark:

Noah's Ark

Other examples might include the Tower of Babel, Jacob’s Ladder, Joseph and his many-coloured Coat, Moses and the Burning Bush, to name but a few. Alternatively, themes could be related to the festivals and the cycle of the year – Michael and the Dragon, Joseph and Mary, the Three Magi etc. These seasonal themes, especially, can be returned to again and again throughout the Lower School years.

In Class 4 the Steiner Waldorf curriculum offers the wealth of the Norse Myths.

Here is a Viking ship in full sail...

...and a Viking funeral

A beautiful Mother Mary

The Human and Animal main lesson is inspiring too:

Cuttle Fish

Swans and Cygnets

Tortoise

Pony in Field

Stag

In Class 5 painting maps is a delightful activity as well as depicting dramatic scenes from ancient mythologies

Ahura Mazda creates cereals in Ancient Persia

or painting the subtle, warm, sharp and strong colours that belong to India, Egypt and Greece:

Indian Lotus Flowers

Ancient Greek Temple

The Botany block in Class 5 is another gift for painting fungi, trees and flowers, and the insects that pollinate them. 


Here are two trees, painted
during the same lesson. Note the difference!

                                                                                     Tree in autumn wind

Another tree in autumn wind!

Conifers

Oak in Spring

Irises

Roses

In Class 6 the curriculum guides the children through the Roman Empire, another great source of inspiration, with temples, statues, soldiers, Hadrian’s Wall to name but a few.Maps can be developed in greater detail, as can landscapes of the countries studied (Europe in the case of schools in the UK). Geology, too, allows for the painting of mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, limestone caves and sandstone wonders such as Durdle Door in Dorset, for example.

Veiling

In Class 6 another important painting technique is introduced, known as ‘veiling’.

This technique bridges the gap between ‘wet on wet’ painting and more conventional water colour painting. 

The wet paper is fastened to the board with paper tape and allowed to dry; this stretches the paper.  Once dry, a coat of a very diluted wash of a particular colour is carefully painted onto an area of the paper (i.e. the four corners) and is then allowed to dry. Once dry, a second layer is added, partly overlapping the area already painted. More layers are added, partially overlapping and partially covering a fresh area. Another colour might be added, equally dilute. The effect is a build up of colour, which creates tremendous depth as well as subtleties of shape and colour that have hitherto not been experienced.

Veiling is a very slow process, which requires an enormous amount of patience and it is recommended that it is done simultaneously with another artistic activity. This requires careful planning. As soon as I have some good examples of this I shall add them to the blog.

In Classes 7 and 8 the content of the curriculum continues to provide inspiration for painting, such as the voyages of discovery in Class 7

 Christopher Columbus arriving in America

or historical events such as the Great Fire of London in Class 8.

Here is a winter landscape, painted in Class 8 over a number of weeks. The veiling technique was partly used here, although not entirely. Here is perhaps a good place to mention what Diana Westlake is keen to point out - how the art of watercolour painting has a long and distinguished history in Britain, with William Blake, William Turner and many others. This aspect of English culture might well have had some influence in the development of the painting approach in Steiner schools, although the 'wet on wet' technique of course differs from working on dry paper, which perhaps resembles the 'veiling' technique more.

Winter landscape

By Class 8, however, the teacher will regularly be experimenting with different media, creating group paintings and moving away from the ‘wet on wet’ technique discussed here, so inspiration for these alternatives are beyond the scope of this blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Why do we paint ‘wet on wet’ in Steiner Waldorf schools?

A:   Bearing in mind that our starting point is to feed the soul and to awaken a sense of beauty in the children, ‘wet on wet’ painting was recommended by Rudolf Steiner, as the colours produced by means of this method are exceptionally pure and translucent. In nature, watching the sheer beauty and radiance of a rainbow in the sky can fill even an adult with awe and we become aware that no solid object on earth has such sublime colours. Sadly, painting with sheer light in air is impossible, but using water as a colourless medium for carrying colour is the next best thing.

Painting for children is more about the process than the end product. The way the colours move and mingle on the wet paper without immediately becoming fixed (as is the case with poster paints, for instance), is very healing and enlivening for the senses. The fact that, once dry, the paintings lose something of their translucent quality is really not so important.

Q:  Is it essential that we use organic paints?

A:  It is best not to be too dogmatic about these things and there are some very high quality watercolour paints around that are not organic. However, the organic Stockmar paints that are mostly used in Steiner schools were developed precisely for the purpose of providing the purest, most translucent colours for painting ‘wet on wet’ and they are therefore to be recommended. The six colours that are used in Lower School painting, when mixed, produce a huge variety of very natural looking colours, which don’t separate out when the paintings dry.

Q:   People often comment on our children’s paintings all looking the same. How 

       can I best respond to this?

A:   People frequently need to be reminded that in our schools we do not go in for free self expression from an early age. The purpose of painting in the Lower School is to develop a sense of colour and aesthetics generally and also to teach the children the skills in handling the tools; in the younger years painting is about process rather than result, as I have already mentioned. Later on (towards the end of the Lower School and in the Upper School) these nurtured senses and skills can be put to individual use. Within the context of their ‘sameness’, however, there is still a considerable variety, and you can point out examples.

Q:  At what stage in the Lower School are other media used in the Art lessons?

A:   Children of course use wax crayons from Class 1 onwards. From Class 3 these could sometimes be used to add detail to paintings (see below). From Class 6 teachers often introduce watercolour pastels for the sake of variety and also because pastels are somewhat more forgiving and are a help to new or less gifted children, while the colour experience remains rich and varied. In Class 8 some teachers have introduced gouache and even acrylic paint, depending on the project.

Q:   Can one mix media, i.e. use wax crayons or pastels as well as paint in the same picture?

A:   Yes, occasionally, if the teacher would like the children to enhance the painting with detail. They might paint the Tower of Babel or Noah’s Ark, for instance. Once dry, workmen, scaffolding, baskets with bricks might be drawn in (in the case of the former) and Noah’s family and several pairs of animals be added (in the case of the latter). It could also be done the other way round: Adam and Eve might be drawn surrounded by flowers and a serpent coiling round the Tree of Knowledge, while the background (the ground, the sky and more plants) is painted afterwards. These examples remain the exception to the rule though; painting is essentially a joyful immersion in colour for its own sake. Here are two examples of Class 7 paintings where paint was used to begin with and some details were added in pastel:

Journey of the Magi

:

Jungle scene

Q:  Can I work with the four temperaments in painting lessons?

A:  The short answer to this is ‘yes!’ However, this is a huge subject which really goes beyond the scope of this blog. Painting can be a great diagnostic tool if you are not sure what temperament a child is. Does he/she paint very wet? Is there an unwillingness to commit paint onto paper? Is the painting rushed or extremely slow to develop? Are there particular colour preferences? Does a child become frustrated and deliberately spoil his or her painting? As you are working with a class and not with an individual child, if you specifically address a group of children of a certain temperament within that class with a particular exercise, you will necessarily include all the others as well. This is fine; another time it might be another group that you focus on. Or it could be the whole group that has a certain temperamental tendency that needs to be worked with.

Q:  I am extremely unartistic and painting scares me. What do I do?

A:  No class teacher is gifted in all the areas that they teach. Practice is the key, and lots of enthusiasm. There are often short courses in the holidays (which the school might well finance) or a colleague might be able to give some extra help. In the end it is the effort that goes into your work that the children will learn from and not your great gifts as an artist. I think it is really important that you don’t give up and hand the task over to a colleague, if you can possibly help it, at least not before Class 7 or 8.

Q:  How do we help children who join the school later? Can they catch up in     

       learning the techniques?

A:  This can be quite a challenge, as some children will never have held a brush in their lives. If they are keen, they will quickly catch up with the others, partly through watching them and partly with a little bit of focus on the teacher’s part. New pupils from Class 6 upwards might find it an extra struggle as their peers’ abilities are already quite advanced. For these children in particular the use of watercolour pastels can be good. This medium lies somewhere between painting and drawing. Mistakes can be drawn over and disappear and pupils have more control to develop their skills, while experiencing the satisfaction and pleasure of working with the colours.

Some pre-blog Nuggets from other Class Teachers regarding Painting:

We live in an unprecedentedly mechanized, technological and computerized world. The child is surrounded - one might almost say bombarded - by this aspect of civilization from all sides. Hand in hand with this there inevitably arises the danger that the soul itself can become mechanized and rigidified into linear, digital lines of thought and feeling. The great antidote to this is art, which feeds the soul with elements of the world that are filled with dynamism and life (PK, South Africa).

I like to occasionally suggest unguided painting - to see what the children have incorporated into their pictures from what they have learned (DS, UK).

One can work pedagogically with the temperaments and with social issues, through the colour story/imagery spoken to the children before the painting begins. Thus there can be a real healing quality to the work.

Creative work in this watery realm can be a blessing for children with difficulties in fine motor skills – they develop their gross motor skills with archetypal forms – for example, circles, spirals, strips of colour) – before being asked to create something more defined. Hand-eye coordination develop.

The painting lesson allows the teacher an additional opportunity to see into the soul of each child. The comparative aspect – since all the children paint their own version of the same painting – is another valuable pedagogical tool, from which a teacher can gain insight. The children’s own appreciation of each other’s work can be very heartening, especially for children who may struggle in other areas of their learning (HdeB, UK).

I notice if the children haven't had painting. I haven't noticed any further influence probably due to lack of experience! (PB, UK).

Painting with water colour enables the children to have an experience of pure colour that is fluid, and this produces a therapeutic effect on the soul of the child as the colours 'speak' to the child from the paper, especially if the teacher has managed to bring the character of the colours.

I think it's important to get the preparation of putting away well-organized, as this made me anxious to begin with. More fundamentally, it's important to create pictures in a living way so that the colours live in the classroom and this takes practice! It's also important to have a plan for the year, yet have the flexibility to sense what is needed in the moment for the children (VW, UK).

Conclusion

I do hope this introduction has been helpful. I would be grateful for some feedback and please don't  hesitate to let me know of anything that I have omitted that others might find useful. I would also welcome good examples of artwork, carefully selected by you, to add to the gallery, particularly some good examples of veil paintings. It would also be useful to share other helpful website links on this blog.

.A great many books have been written on the subject of teaching painting in Steiner Waldorf schools and I urge you to explore this topic further. I especially recommend the following:

• Painting in Waldorf Education by Dick Bruin and Attie Lichthart (translated from Dutch and published by AWSNA)
• Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools - Classes 1 to 8 by Thomas Wildgruber (translated from German and published by Floris Books)
• Drawing and Painting in Rudolf Steiner Schools by Margrit Jueneman and Fritz Weitmann (translated from German and published by Hawthorn Press).

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank very warmly the following people for their help and support in creating this blog: first, the colleagues who responded to my questionnaire about their painting experiences or invited me into the classroom to take some photos; and secondly, members of our families for the useful advice and ideas on layout and distribution. Most important, however, is a very big 'Thank You' to the many children whose creations we have 'borrowed' as well as to the teachers that have inspired them.

This leaves us with nothing more to say than good luck and enjoy painting!

Diana Westlake

Antoinette Reynolds