What is the difference between watercolor paints that come in pans and those in tubes? How do you decide which is best for you? Here are characteristics of each that will help you decide which one is best. You will also learn about watercolor paints and how they work. This lesson is perfect for beginner artists ready to buy watercolors that will work for them. 

You're here because you're going to homeschool your kid, thinking about it, or already homeschooling and not happy. If you're a happy homeschool parent you don't need to read this.

You're in for some relief because I'm sharing what I have learned from education experts, successful homeschool moms, books and books...blogs and more blogs, and my own experiences homeschooling condensed into something NOT overwhelming as all that. This may change the way you look at the education of your child, as going on a journey to find the best way to educate my children did that for me.

I wrote this for you, but what spurred me into sharing my strong beliefs was my awesome sister who has a son failing in public school, just barely was told he has ADD, has five kids and is really busy. She has thought about home-schooling for a few years now, but is too overwhelmed to give it a try.
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There are many obstacles we are all going to face. To get over our hurdles we have to either take them down, step by step, or get around them. The option to give up or keep doing what isn't working, is choosing to fail, and this obliterates potential. It's the biggest regret people have when they look back on their life. Once you know how to face your challenges, step by step, it isn't overwhelming. Most of the time we're focused on trying to get over our obstacles, instead of breaking it down so we can get over them. Let me share a personal experience with my kid to show you what I'm talking about. 

Patrons of Createful Art voted to learn the 7 Biggest Mistakes Artists Make. Want to learn the 10 Biggest Mistakes New Artists Make (not just 7) head over and become a Patron here.  I hope you can learn from my experiences so you can avoid these mistakes. 

And boy have I made a lot of mistakes! Even tho I make mistakes, I don't let them stop me from moving forward. Growth and mistakes fit together, and there is no way around this.  

Trying to be perfect? If this is the goal, we will surely be disappointed. Throw away the "perfect is best" mindset and instead put all effort into improving! The improving mindset allows the learning & progression process to work naturally.  While the perfection mindset is discouraging, frankly mean, and keeps us from taking risks.   

Let's trash the crap that videos, teachers, and people in general sometimes feed us about what artists should and shouldn't do. Every accomplished artist has had to overcome the criticism and even good intentional advice from others and follow their own way...making mistakes and learning what they should do in the process.   

So I'm not going to feed you "crap." Your going to hear that you should never mix water with oils, balance a picture like so or it won't look right, that a drawing is not good unless it looks real...or whatever other nonsense statements. These statements are not facts and have been debunked over and over by successful artists. Find your own way by taking risks and trying new things!  

 Ooh I love oil paints. They are rich in color, creamy in texture and the slow drying time makes it easy to come back to a painting. Although those wonderful things can come with some downfalls. They can be messy and toxic to work with, but no worries, I will share with you how I got around these two major downfalls.

The toxic part around oil paints is what challenged my love for them. Toxic relationships are never good.

What makes oils toxic, you ask? The pigments or in other words the color particles can be toxic. Some of them contain lead, mercurial sulfides, cobalt, and cadmium...all toxic to your health and children! The solvents (what makes your paint thinner and cleans brushes) turpentine or mineral spirits are both toxic to your health.