Painting Heavenly Dancers

On a cool, languorous Sunday afternoon, Little Bee decided to indulge in a little bout of painting. It was ages since she last painted and she was visibly excited. As we were currently in the midst of a Cambodian-themed homelearning spiel, I initially suggested to her to paint the Angkor Wat. However, she preferred something more feminine and delicate, so we decided on a painting with ballerinas floating above a sea of blue, thus reflecting the theme of "heavenly dancers" that is still so prevalent in Angkor Wat.

We spent less than an hour on this painting, and it was a nice, relaxing piece of art for Little Bee. I really love how ethereal and surreal the outcome was, although my mum kept questioning why these ballerinas can dance on water! Well, it just helped to illustrate the theme of magic and myth that we are exploring with the Cambodian homelearning stint!

Step 1: Brush light blue poster paint over the entire drawing paper, then paint a darker blue for the sea.

Step 2: Using white poster paint (or chalk!), paint a round circle in the sky for the moon with white reflection on the sea's surface.

Step 3: Paint a light yellow ring around the moon (you can smudge or blend the colours if you want), and paint tinges of yellow on the reflection in the water.

Step 4: Using bold, medium-sized strokes, paint one ballerina's body and her tutu in the sky (or anywhere you like!).

Step 5: Using beige, peach or beige-coloured paint, paint in the ballerina's arms, legs, neck and head. Then embellish the ballerina's costume with a tiara or head gear and strappy pointe shoes. Use your finger or the brush to smudge the tutu to create a soft, fuzzy effect.

Step 6: Paint a second ballerina in a different ballet pose.

Tada!