Clear Glue and Watercolor Art

Clear glue and watercolor art is GORGEOUS. The first time I discovered this technique by accident, I was absolutely and completely mesmerized.

I discovered clear glue and watercolor art by accident

We were in the middle of a study on famous artists and were beginning to create a Monet-inspired water lily pond.

The kids painted swirled watercolors in blues, purples, indigos, and greens together. Each piece looked like a whimsical, magical pond, and then I had an idea.

“What if we added some glue on top for texture?” I wondered to myself. I went inside, grabbed several bottles of clear glue, and gave them to the kids. “Here, try these!” I suggested, having no clue that the texture would be the least exciting thing to happen when they mixed!

💕 Related: Check out this darling list of the best heart art projects for kids!

A close up of a painted blue heart with clear glue zigzags on it.

We will forever love clear glue and watercolor art

We made hearts for Valentine’s Day here, but the best thing about this technique is it is evergreen and can be used for any holiday or occasion.

Also, this won’t work with regular white school glue (trust us, we’ve tried a dozen times). The good news is clear glue isn’t more expensive than white glue, AND if you have any left over, it works just as well as white glue.

💕 Looking for more exciting art projects for kids? Take a peek at these:

Materials

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Clear glue
Watercolors – liquid watercolors or pan watercolors
Thick paper

A white paper heart is painted with blue liquid watercolors and a fluffy paintbrush. Two bottles of clear glue and a container of liquid watercolors sit beside the heart.

How to make clear glue and watercolor art

Paint base layer – Invite your child to paint a layer of color on their paper using any colors you want. You want the colors to be very wet and saturated for the best effect. For this reason, I prefer using liquid watercolors because it takes minimal effort to have a very wet canvas.

Add clear glue directly onto the wet paint – Add the glue in any design that you want. From swirls to scribbles to lines and words, have fun “drawing” with the glue. Kids are amazed to see the watercolors instantly change color from the glue, turning nearly white.

And the best part? Even when your paper dries, the lines made with the glue don’t go away. What it looks like wet is exactly what it looks like dry! 🎉

Do you do the background first in watercolor?

Yes! The glue will not react to watercolors if the glue is dry.

However, it’s always worth experimenting with adding glue to your paper first, letting it dry completely, and then painting it over with watercolors. While the bleaching effect won’t happen, it’s still an easy and fun way to add texture to your artwork.

How long does clear glue and watercolor art take to dry?

I would plan on letting your paper dry overnight before touching and using it.

If you want to make your paper into a shape (such as a heart), you could cut out the paper before beginning to avoid wasting materials on the parts of the paper that will get cut off.