Muddy Waters

Maybe you can remember how frustrating it was to use a watercolor set as a child until you mastered keeping the paints from getting muddy. You rinsed your brush, but didn't know how to get the extra water out, so your paint tray flooded; the blue got in the yellow, the black got in the red, and nothing was going right, right?

Learning to use watercolors is as difficult as learning to cut with scissors. It takes lots of practice. That's what we are working on in Art Class.

If you are going to buy a set of paints for your child, please avoid the inexpensive sets in the grocery store school supply aisle. Those paints are very chalky and your child will have a really tough time getting vibrant clear colors. If possible, get a set of Crayola® So Big® Washable Watercolors. The pans of color are larger than usual, can be replaced, and encourage practice mixing colors. The sets have splendid bright red, yellow, green, and blue. For more advanced students, please get a nice eight-color set of Prang watercolors (it should not have white). Good results build on good experiences with good materials.