- Lao Tzu
It's exciting to be able to revisit the beginning of a new art adventure. That's what happened this past weekend with my grandson. Emmett, who is seven years old, has decided he would like to learn how to do watercolor painting like his grandma. A new adventure we can share together.
The first step we needed to take was the selection of his paint palette and then the decision on what paints he should use. He decided to go for a metal paint box because as he put it, " the metal box was stronger than the plastic one." Then we selected his paints. I didn't want to start him out with Crayola or Prang, even though they are both good products for children. Instead, I started him out with Winsor & Newton Cotman paints. That's what I started out with when I was his age and never regretted it. I'm still using their product today and find it to be of the highest quality. I wanted him to feel confident in knowing he was using real artist's paints and not something meant for a child to play with.
The next step was becoming familiar with his paints and knowing what colors he was working with. This he did by making a swatch card to put in his paint box. He painted swatches of each paint color and was surprised by how the colors appeared different on paper than they appeared in their pans.
After he completed the swatches, he was ready for his first watercolor painting. I didn't want to interfere with his first creation. In fact, I was eager to see what he came up with. His first endeavor was on a small scale but it was what he could handle. His drawing was of his own creation and he began to paint it without hesitation. Of course, there was a special story about the picture and each color he chose to paint each item.
For his first attempt I think he handled it like a pro.
