Sentence:  She feels that whatever they absorb of the basic fundamentals of art will be valuable in later life. Even a knowledge of balanced colors may be a help later in decorating a home. She starts them simply with ordinary "<WSD>blottos</WSD>." "Then they learn perspective, and the various techniques. I try to take them through as many as possible; water color, crayons, charcoal, tempera, and india ink, casein—everything but oil." 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An artwork created using blots of ink or paint.