I like Paul Rubens metallic watercolor paints. The pallet colors are great, the shimmer is beautiful, and they are easy to use. Some of my artist friends might tell me I’ve been teaching public school too long and need more adult artist conversation and influence.

Especially if you go to my Bible art journal entry, You Can’t Stop Love and see the first art I used these watercolors on. Let me give you a hint; there are hearts, rainbows, and flowers. I prefer to think I am just taking Matthew 18:3 very literally. (lol)

Matthew 18:3 and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

In the video below, I swab out the 24 metallic colors in the Paul Rubens set. Winsor and Newton make an iridescent medium that you can add to any watercolor to make it shimmer, so I decided to do that as well and compare them. They are both equally beautiful.

It is nice to have the convenience of the Paul Rubens metallic watercolor pallet. It is equally nice to have a color you normally use in your pallet and “shimmerize” it. “Shimmerize” should be a word, don’t you think? You do have to mix it yourself if you use the iridescent medium, but you can control the amount of shimmer.

At the time I am writing this, the Paul Rubens metallic watercolors are $50.00 for a 24-half pan pallet. The Winsor and Newton iridescent medium is less than $7.00 for a 2.5 oz bottle.

Here is a tip if you are using regular watercolors and metallic watercolors. Use different water, so you do not have a shimmer where you do not want it. There is no concern for your brushes because both products wash completely out of the brushes easily.
So, let’s explore some sparkly paint in the video below!