Watercolor is one of those artistic endeavors that both intimidates and frustrates me.

 

 

The intimidation part stems from the fact that I find blending colors and controlling the amount of water vs. the amount of color difficult.  That color wheel graphic just doesn’t live icy mind as vividly as it does in an artist’s mind.  The frustrating part comes from the mess watercolor can cause.  The drippy paintbrushes on the kitchen table.  The soggy paper that sticks to the table if I forget to put something else down first.  Some place to dry the art for a few days.  You know, all those details.

But – lest you think me unconcerned about art – you should know, I actually do really like the kids experiencing watercolor.

Enter the convenience and guidance of Timebrdoodle’s Aquarelle Monet.  

 

 

It comes in a box that is about the same size as a board game so I stored it with our games actually until the time was ready to use it.  In a perfect world, we would have been studying Monet and incorporated this project right into that study all seamlessly you know.

I don’t live in a perfect world.  And we’ve been studying John Singer Sergeant (when I remember to study an artist at all) so we just pulled out this Aquarelle kit during one of our recent Read Aloud times.

 

 

The kit comes with everything you need.  (Except water.  You’ll need to provide your own water, friends.  I mean, I think we can handle that.) There’s a quality paintbrush with two different tips and a pipette and lots of vibrant good colors and am fixing tray for those colors.  There are three Monet “paintings’ included.  The paper they are printed on is thick and won’t get all soggy and bendy when your child is finished with their art.  On the paper is some kind of magic formula.  The Timberdoodle website says, “With Aquarelle’s unique water-resistant technique, paint flows off the wax barriers and adheres only to the design motif areas, making the vivid colors pop. And paint can be applied repeatedly to any area until the results are just perfect.”  I was going to try to rephrase that for you – but there’s just makes more sense.  Basically, as Bergen said while he was working, “I love this, it blends so well.  This makes my colors come out all right – the blues look so good and I keep adding color til I like them.”

 

 

This particular version of the Aquarelle – the Monet version – comes with the Fourth Grade Complete Curriculum Kit.  If you like the Aquarelle style though, they have many more versions – tropical landscapes, owls, coral reef, fish, knights, horses and more.  I think the sticker prices – ranging from $20 to $30 on the different options – feels high.  But, unfortunately, all art supplies are high.  Quality canvas is expensive.  Good watercolors are expensive.  And, this watercolor does something, especially for young beginner artists, that other watercolors cannot do – it provides a confidence and a product that is satisfying.  Often watercolor projects end in frustration over here at our house because what they see in their minds does not translate to what they create on their page.  The Aquarelle kit offers an opportunity to learn how to blend colors well and results in product they want to hang other walls.  Hopefully, this will be a stepping stone to encouraging them to attempt personal watercolor projects with more confidence.  (And, we’ve got a good amount of watercolor paint left over to use too.)

 

 

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