I was so excited to finally have this book! This was published way back in 2010 and then printed as a paperback in 2017/2018. I love the feel of the book and its landscape layout of the pages with color overlaying words and themes in the book. When I opened the pages, I realized it was as I had envisioned it in my head!
The contents include an introduction and materials needed to work with this book, and then it is divided into five parts ranging from one to three chapters. Part One is about exploring colors, painting the rainbow, combining colors. Part Two is about complementary colors, after-images (remember playing with light and color in physics in sixth grade in the Waldorf curriculum?) and other related topics, and Part Three is about the color circle and the polarity of red and blue.
Part Four is about sunrises and sunsets and using those archetypes as exploration for how we use an interplay of light and dark in creating atmosphere in our paintings (so valuable!) and how color plays a role in all that we see around us in nature. “How do we find our way into nature’s secrets?” the author asks on page 98. I love this and think this mood permeates throughout the entirety of the Waldorf curriculum. We can find polarities of color in nature, of course, but also in expanding and contracting, in and out breathing, polarities in size, active and passive and so on. So much of Waldorf education uses polarities to enliven the curriculum material we teach and in how we teach and guide children to find balance. In Part Five, there is a wonderful reference guide on page 121 regarding the thematic elements of each grade and corresponding help in this book. There is also an amazing glossary which is very helpful.
I encourage Waldorf homeschoolers, new and veteran alike, to set up a little painting station and just paint every morning. When my children were small, I set up an ironing board in the corner of my bedroom and when I awoke in the morning, I went and painted for five to ten minutes a day. It was very nourishing to me as the mother of small children, and it remains a wonderful practice. I can’t wait to use this book as inspiration for my own morning paintings.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have!
Blessings,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
This sounds wonderful! I love the idea of morning painting on rising. I was wondering do you use dry paper for these exercises in the book, or is it wet on wet?
Hi Maureen! It is meant to be gone through wet on wet the first time, and then you can go back through the second time a do dry/veil painting techniques. I hope that helps! Blessings, Carrie
Hiya Carrie this book Colour Dynamics who is the author & would you know where I can get a copy within Australia also do you know where I can get verses / stories to be shared with painting techniques for the kids kind regards Denise 🌈🦋
HI Denise! The author is Angela Lord! I am not sure where to get Steiner books within Australia but I am hoping one of my Down Under readers sees this and can tell you. Verses for painting can be found in books like A Child’s Seasonal Treasury and other sources. Or you can make up your own! Blessings, Carrie
Thanks! This looks like a fun book! I’m adding it to the wishlist! Blessing to you and your family!