by Judy Campbell

Sometimes it’s fun to do something without knowing how it is going to turn out. The paintings in this art project will surprise you every time because they magically appear “out of the blue!”

You will need:
A white, round coffee filter
A piece of drawing paper
A watercolor paint set
A small paint brush

1. Wet the coffee filter with water, then squeeze it out. Dry your hands and smooth the filter out on top of the drawing paper.

2. Soak up a lot of paint onto your brush. Blue is a great color to start with. Let the paint drip off your brush onto the filter wherever it wants to go. Leave some white spaces.

3. Do the same thing with another color. Drip the paint in the spaces where there isn’t any blue and watch the colors run together. Don’t touch the filter. Let the paints do their own thing!

4. When the filter is dry, peel it off the paper. New shapes and colors will have appeared on the drawing paper like magic! For a large sheet of paper, use many coffee filters.

5. Enjoy your awesome painting as is, or use it as background for a poem, a favorite saying, or a photograph. You can also use the coffee filters to make beautiful flower bouquets. Just gather them up in the center and attach a pipe cleaner or stick.