Soak Stain Painting for Kids Inspired by Helen Frankenthaler

Introduce your young artists to abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler through this fun and easy soak stain art project!

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We first became interested in Helen Frankenthaler’s work after reading Dancing Through Fields of Color, a gorgeous picture book about Frankenthaler’s childhood and creative journey.

That lovely book was a great introduction to her work, but then our local art museum added several of her pieces to their collection. Having her work on display in our neighborhood has sparked a new interest for us and led us to experiment with her soak stain technique.

Soak Stain Art Inspired by Helen Frankenthaler

Want to enjoy our spin on Helen Frankenthaler’s soak stain art process with your kids? Here are the supplies you’ll need:

Soak Stain Art Supply List

Canvas panel
Craft paints (We used 3-4 colors)
Assorted paint brushes
Water
Painter’s tape (optional)
Hair dryer or handheld fan (optional)

Keep in mind that there’s potential for lots of water dripping and paint running off the canvas with the soak stain process. Because of that, you’ll want to protect surfaces and forgo any special clothing while working. 😉

Also worth noting, we drew inspiration from Dancing Through Fields of Color and from Helen Frankenthaler herself for our soak stain project. In particular, we listened to her talk about drawing with color in this video from Gagosian. These are both great for learning more about her process and her thoughts on how to be “in control enough not to be in control at all.”

Step 1. Add painters tape.

To start your soak stain art, have your child add painters tape or masking tape to any areas of the canvas that need to be covered. This can happen through a more traditional use of painters tape to section off certain portions of the canvas with straight lines, but your artist may prefer to use it to create jagged sections of negative space.

Adding this tape doesn’t guarantee the canvas underneath will remain untouched by paint or water, but it will delay contact until later in the project.

Don’t have tape on hand? No worries, skip this part and move on to the next step.

Step 2. Paint with water.

Next, “paint” areas of the canvas with water. Your artist can do this by dipping the paintbrush into water and adding to the canvas as desired. Then, use the brush to drip or splash water in other spots.

Frankenthaler used oil paints thinned with turpentine for many of her paintings, but adding water to the canvas before applying craft paints will provide a similar effect for our project. It also allows you to use up some of those nearly empty craft paint bottles, but I digress.

Step 3. Add color.

Next, add paint to the canvas one color at a time, making sure to paint or drip more water in between colors.

Continue the painting and watering process as desired.

The initial water application from Step 2 will change how paint works into the canvas, but adding water between color applications creates swirls and blends colors in unique ways.

Note that you may want to have paper towels on hand to control any water and paint running off of the canvas during this step.

Step 4. Push the paint around.

After adding paint and water, begin moving the paint around the canvas. To do this, slightly tilt the canvas in various directions allowing the water and paint to combine, run, and pool on different spots on the canvas.
Hair dryers and handheld fans also work nicely for this step because they control the paint and water movements while also speeding up the drying process on the saturated canvas.

Once the canvas dries completely, you’re ready to display your soak stain art and enjoy.

Remember to share your completed soak stain projects with us. Be sure to include #masterpiecesociety in your caption and tag us when you share it on social media so we don’t miss your gorgeous work!