Review: National Parks Watercoloring Kit
Our final art review for this season is the United States National Parks Watercoloring Kit.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary kit for review from Timberdoodle. All views expressed are my own.
National Parks Watercoloring Book
The United States National Parks Watercoloring Book by Bailey Tillotson offers a super approachable format for creating 21 truly beautiful paintings inspired by our national parks. It is wire-bound at the top, making it accessible to both right- and left-handed artists. The extra-sturdy front and back covers also provide enough support to serve as an easel if you prefer to paint that way, or to display your finished paintings without removing them from the book.
Each page features a light outline (almost like a pencil sketch) guide of the scene you’ll be painting. Pages are printed on heavy “card stock” weight watercolor paper.
Here’s the list of national parks included in the book (with just-for-fun links to posts about ones we’ve visited):
- Acadia
- Arches
- Biscayne
- Cuyahoga Valley
- Everglades
- Glacier
- Grand Canyon
- Grand Tetons
- Great Smoky Mountains
- Hawaii Volcanoes
- Indiana Dunes
- Joshua Tree
- Mount Rainier
- Olympic
- Redwood Forest
- Rocky Mountain
- Saguaro
- Shenandoah
- Yellowstone
- Yosemite
- Zion
What’s Included in the Kit
In addition to the book, Timberdoodle’s kit includes the supplies needed to complete the paintings:
- a watercolor paint tin with 50 colors
- a small practice pad of watercolor paper
- 5 detail paint brushes (sizes 00, 0, 1, 2, 3)
- a water brush pen (with refillable barrel)
- a waterproof fine-liner pen (.03)
- an art sponge
- a swatch sheet
The Process
There’s a video tutorial for each painting, so I set up my workspace with convenient access to my laptop. (I actually did one of the paintings just holding the book in my lap with my phone for the videos, but working at a table was definitely better.)
Once I decided which painting I wanted to do, I pulled up the appropriate video on the National Parks Watercoloring Book playlist at Bailey Rae Studio’s YouTube channel. Bailey is a great teacher with lots of helpful tips and techniques. I liked that I could pause the video when needed to focus on the painting and then resume when I needed further instruction.
The paint tin included in Timberdoodle’s kit is not exactly the same as the one Bailey works with, but I found it helpful that it actually has more colors to work with. The two empty wells at one end are perfect for mixing and blending colors, as Bailey demonstrates, but with so many colors available, you could probably get by without mixing. I enjoyed that process, though, and felt like it added more dimension to my painting.
My Thoughts
I’ve completed four of the paintings so far and have thoroughly enjoyed the process. I’ve always admired watercolor painting, but based on my experience messing around with watercolors as a kid, I never understood how to control the colors and details. Thanks to the excellent tutorials in this course, I have learned that it’s not as hard as I thought. Thankfully, it’s a very forgiving medium, and it’s even possible to erase mistakes by diluting the color with water and then blotting it up.
The National Parks Watercoloring Kit is an ideal project for anyone who enjoys being creative without a lot of mess and supplies. All that’s required is the book, the paint tin, a cup of water, and something to watch the video on. It’s very open-and-go and can easily be packed up to take along camping or wherever you go to relax.
I look forward to completing the rest of the paintings at my leisure. Each painting only took me an hour or so, but it’s more of a treat than an everyday activity. Even if I complete one a month (which is about my current rate), there are enough outlines provided to last nearly two years.
Other Art Reviews
Check out my other recent reviews of art kits from Timberdoodle:
