Watercolor & Let’s Make Art
More recently I decided I wanted to find a new activity I could do inside to stay out of the heat (113 degrees outside), that was calming, that was creative and I would be comfortable while doing it seeing as how I am almost 35 weeks pregnant. I’ve been in the mood to bake, but standing so long in a hot kitchen does not seem so fun. I decided to try out watercolor. I’ve always thought watercolor was beautiful. I have come to realize that it is not as easy as you would think it would be and it’s a fun challenge. It’s been great learning/experimenting and I am looking forward to picking up more techniques as I go.
I stumbled upon a website from a Facebook add called Let’s Make Art.
I noticed that they sell watercolor kits. The kits include 2 pieces of paper, the colors you need to paint the picture(liquid concentrated watercolors), a step by step picture guide of how to paint the picture and a postcard that has the final product of the picture on it for you to reference. You can also go online and watch a step by step tutorial video of how to paint the pictures. Even if you don’t purchase a kit, you can still watch the tutorials for free on YouTube and try them out.
https://www.letsmakeart.com/collections/kit
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzzCo7lZGJ-sTCgpI7BJKEg
I scrolled though their kits and picked one out. The only things they don’t provide in the kits are the brushes and something to mix the paints on. They do sell those separately in their store. I went to Michael’s and purchased a set of watercolor brushes with the sizes the kit suggested as well as a butcher tray for color mixing. Amazon also has a lot of good stuff for watercolor also if you don’t want to walk in a craft store and accidentally buy all the things! ;P
Shortly after ordering my kit, a friend on Facebook added me to the Let’s Make Art Facebook group (thanks Jan!). I was blown away and I am still blown away by the artwork that these people produce. Even the beginners do a great job. It is so inspiring to see everyone’s art and how different each painting turns out. Everyone has their own unique vision and style.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/letsgomakeart
I received my first kit in the mail and I was pumped to get started. Life got busy though and it took me a while to get motivated to work on it. Once I did, I really enjoyed it. I’ve decided I enjoy following their video tutorials first to get a feel for the techniques, colors to mix and to know the best order of how to complete the picture. After trying it once with the video tutorial, I try to paint it by myself and just reference the picture. So far I have completed two kits and really enjoyed both, enough so that I signed up for their monthly subscription box that includes 4 pictures. I am really looking forward to working on them.
Not only have I ordered from Let’s Make Art, but I have also looked up YouTube tutorials and tried some of those tutorials with a cheap watercolor pan set I had bought for my art party I hosted years ago. Pinterest also has some great step by step tutorials. It has been a lot of fun playing around with colors and shading. My husband just bought me a new brush set (yay!) and I just ordered a new watercolor pan set by Windsor & Newton that my friends who watercolor suggested (thanks Doug & Gen!). It will be interesting to try the nicer pan set and decide which I like better between the pan set and the liquid watercolors. I really like how easy it is to mix the concentrated liquid ones. I might end up buying a set of those soon.
The photo scroller at the top of the page includes the tools I use, what an individual kit looks like from Let’s Make Art, what a subscription box from Let’s Make Art contains and some of the pictures I have attempted so far. I If you are a artist, I would love to see some of your work. Feel free to comment below some of your artwork!