I have always loved the look of watercolor paintings and wanted to try it myself or at least introduce it to one of my children. The people on television always make it look so easy. The Walter Foster Watercolor Painting Kit is a nice way to learn watercolor painting. The kit includes:

8 squeezable tube paints
3 different sized round brushes (small, medium, large)
1 sketch pencil
1 plastic palette with a thumbhole to make it comfortable to hold.
1 Watercolor Paint Guide (40 pages)

This kit is packaged in a very nice sturdy box that would make a great gift for a budding artist. The palette has quite a few paint wells and a nice amount of room for mixing paints. It's designed to leave the unused paints in the wells and close the lid so they stay fresh for the next use. All of these materials are a nice quality and the guide gives instructions as to how to clean and store them so they are like new for many years to come.

The guide starts with very basic instructions that describe all the materials and leads into color and color mixing techniques with pictured examples to look at. There is no watercolor paper included; therefore, this has to be purchased before any painting can begin. Also, a specific type of white paint, which is not included, is referred to on a couple of the projects so this will need to be purchased as well. One other item called Liquid Frisket is mentioned but is not required.

The guide teaches eight lessons which are broken down into simple stages that will take you from a blank piece of paper to a complete painting. They include the following subjects:

still life
floral
landscape
architecture
sunset
night scenes

It is suggested for ages 12 and up but I used it with my 10-year-old son who really enjoyed it. This could easily be used independently for older children and adults or as art lessons for the younger children. I read the directions aloud to my son and we both practiced together. The one downfall I found to this kit was there were no completed sketches included for you to paint. The author of the kit expects you to be able to create the sketches on your own and then do the painting. Not everyone can draw well and this could present a stumbling block. I would think this could easily be remedied by either tracing a picture or buying some preprinted watercolor paper. We happened to have some watercolor paper with sketches already on them.

This is a nice quality beginner’s kit that’s easy to use with simple instructions. You will learn the basics of watercolor painting and even complete several projects on your own. If this is something you have always wanted to try, the price is right and you get almost all the basic materials you would need to get started.