Watercolor Magic

At the beginning of every school year, we have a "Back to School" meeting for all of the art teachers in our county at the Birmingham Museum of Art.  Alabama Art Supply always does a raffle to give away free art supplies to the teachers.  Last year, I was lucky enough to win one of the raffle drawings.  What I ended up with was a product called "Watercolor Magic" by Sargent.  I took the watercolor paints back to my classroom, where they sat on a shelf for many months.  Not so magical, huh?

Eventually I taught a lesson that called for watercolors, so I decided to give them a shot.  I soon found, that they were indeed magic.  I had been a bit skeptical because I have tried eveything from the oval watercolor palettes (which end up all a muddy brown once the younger kids get ahold of them and mix them all up) to the more professional grade watercolors out of a tube that are not only expensive, but also take a lot of prep time to mix.  I was also a little skeptical because these watercolors come already in liquid form in a bottle; which made me think that the vivid colors would be diluted and that the magical watercolors would dissapear very quickly in their very own magical act!  Poof!  However, I found them to be very bright and vivid, even after I diluted them further.  They turned what might have turned into muddy messes of art into bright and beautiful artwork!

This year, when I was planning my budget for the artroom, I bought every color I could get my hand on!  They even come in metallics and pearlescent tones.  Check them out!