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How to Do Plastic Wrap Painting with Watercolors

by Jean Van't Hul
May 20, 2023
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Geometric watercolor art is beautiful and easy to make with plastic wrap painting. Try this tutorial with fun doodle variations.

Updated June 2023

This geometric watercolor art is an activity we first tried years ago. We were so impressed that we did it several more times, but then kind of forgot about it.

But recently, we were reminded of it, and so we tried it again.

And we experimented with different paints and other variations.

And then we extended the activity in a new way by doodling on and tracing the angled lines with pens, including metallic Sharpies and chalk markers.

geometric watercolor art pin
Photo by Jean Van’t Hul

Plastic Wrap Painting

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MATERIALS

*We’ve tried this geometric watercolor art with three different kinds of watercolor paint so far, including liquid watercolor paint (our favorite), a watercolor paint palette (just use lots of water to make the paint extra liquid), and water mixed with watercolor paint from a tube. You can also do this with watered down food coloring. 

Time needed: 1 hour

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Paint with watercolors

    You’ll want to add lots of watercolor paint to your paper. The more wet watercolor paint there is, the better.

    We did this with the paint palette for some of them, just making sure to add extra water, and with liquid watercolors for some of them. It works both ways.

    A note about the salt in the photo: We experimented with adding salt, too, before applying the Saran Wrap, but didn’t notice much of an effect.

    Watercolor painting and palette

  2. Add Saran Wrap

    Scrunch up some Saran Wrap and apply it to the wet watercolor painting right away.

    Or, as our kids like to do, apply a flat piece of Saran Wrap then scrunch it up directly on the paper.

    Geometric Watercolor Art with the Saran Wrap Technique

  3. Let dry then remove Saran Wrap

    Set the Saran-Wrapped paintings aside to dry completely. Then lift the Saran Wrap to reveal your new geometric watercolor art!

    Geometric Watercolor Art with the Saran Wrap Technique - Let dry then remove saran wrap

    Beautiful and super cool!

    DIY Geometric Watercolor Art with Orange and Pink Paint

    Some work better than others, so make a bunch.

    DIY Geometric Watercolor Art with Saran Wrap - Green and Blue

  4. Draw geometric designs

    After making dozens of geometric watercolor art, we decided to get out the pens and markers. We traced some of the geometry of the watercolor designs and also doodled free form on top of our artworks.

    Geometric Watercolor Art with the Saran Wrap Technique - Add Geometric Designs

We love how these look! We especially like the effect of the silver metallic Sharpies and the chalk markers.

More Fun Watercolor Ideas to Try

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How to Do Plastic Wrap Painting with Watercolors

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