Today I’m going to share with a fun technique for older kids or your own personal art journaling/painting. I picked up the Christine Adolph watercolor resist pen from Paper Source, but you can find it on Amazon here (affiliate link.) I thought it would be fun to try out. Watercolor resist works by covering the paper and protecting the area underneath. You can paint right on top of the gummy resist lines. When it is all dry, you can peel off the gummy lines and reveal the white lines underneath.

Here is how it works.

Open the bottle, screw on the applicator tip (very simple.) Then, gently squeeze the watercolor resist pen to make lines and designs on the paper. Let the masking fluid dry overnight to be safe.

Use watercolor paints to paint all over the paper, inside the lines, outside the line and however you want. My favorites are Bianyo Watercolors, Prima Metallic Accents , Twinkling H20s, and Prima Confections Watercolors.

Of course, you don’t need to buy all of these sets. I just like to have a lot of different options for colors, since different sets have variations in colors. Some women collect shoes, I collect watercolor sets.

These are more expensive than supplies I would use at school. For little kids, my watercolors of choice are Crayola Artist II sets (not the regular washable). At this link you can get 3 packs for $25. The colors are pretty vibrant and I have used them in my own personal artwork as well.

After the picture dries thoroughly, you can peel off the gummy wax resist to reveal the white lines underneath.

I have used other watercolor resist pens, but the problems I have encountered was not good enough coverage OR the paper would start peeling when the masking fluid was removed. This pen was much better in those regards. I experienced a small amount of paper peeling when removing the gummy stuff, but the coverage was very good. Overall, I would not use this with a young class, but maybe with a small group of older students or one-on-one with my own child. If you would like a more kid-friendly version, try a watercolor crayon resist project.

Here is a BEFORE: