Anjum Madan
Just Add Snow...
Confession: I am not someone who enjoys winter. If I could, I would turn into a bear, hibernate and not wake up until it was warm again.
Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in. We have to emerge from under our blankets every day, no matter the temperature and face what the day has in store. And on some days that means snow. So, I am always on the lookout for ways to be more creative in the winter when it takes a lot of extra energy to get myself motivated to do anything.
So last winter, when I came across this fun video from Art of Soil, I knew I had to try it!
How cool is the concept of creating watercolour paints from soil?
I started by masking down a piece of watercolour paper onto a plastic tray I have. I added blobs of watercolour paint around the edges and one in the centre in the colours I had already – red, blue, yellow and burnt sienna.

Then it put the tray out on my balcony and let the snow do it’s job! Once the tray was covered in snow, I brought it inside.

Once inside, the snow started to melt and I was mesmerized as the colours started to swirl around. To be honest, when it started melting, I was a little worried that I was going to end up with a dud….would the whole page get covered? Would the colours end up mixing? Would this be a failed experiment?



And this is how it turned out. What do you think?

Honestly, I am so happy with how it turned out. And to think it didn’t require much work at all! The snow did all the work and all I did was watch it unfold. I think this would be a fun activity to do with kids. And, my mind is swirling with ideas of what I could do with the resulting piece. I think it could be the base of an interesting piece!
Give it a try! Let me know how it turns out for you!