In explaining how to capture the essence of the human figure with watercolors, the author provides basic information about materials and discusses such techniques as gestures, lighting, backgrounds, edge quality, and more. 200 full-color illustrations.

Shows how to produce different watercolor effects, provides examples of seascapes, landscapes, industrial landscapes, trees, flowers, buildings, boats, and harbors, and discusses the artist's approach to each work

An inspirational and practical art manual, packed with step-by-step projects. Artist Ann Blockley is renowned for her innovative approach to watercolour painting. Her highly anticipated new book provides a series of workshops demonstrating how to push the boundaries of watercolour, using key techniques to develop your own work and take your paintings to the next level. Ann's easy-to-follow, step-by-step projects demonstrate how some of her most dramatic paintings are created. She describes in detail some of the key techniques used and how you can experiment with alternative methods to create your own interpretations. Finally, her beautiful and inspirational artworks demonstrate how different interpretations of a subject might take an unexpected or unusual direction, and how to make the most of these opportunities. The book moves, with progressively challenging projects, from loose wildflower meadows, textured woodland and rustic rambling walls to atmospheric or semi-abstract landscape corners, all rendered in Ann's adventurous signature style. Loose, expressive mark-making and unusual techniques include combining water-based paint and ink with granulation medium for dramatic texture, drawing with twigs, using gesso and collage to create unique effects; manipulating paint with materials such as plastic wrap (clingfilm); developing printed marks made using found materials. Following the huge demand for more practical guidance in experimental painting, the book provides plenty of techniques and instruction. Ann's personal commentary also gives a unique insight into the mind of the artist – ways of looking at your subject, how to explore and experiment – to unlock the potential of your watercolour painting.

"The Landscape Painter's Workbook takes a modern approach to the time-honored techniques and essential elements of landscape painting, from accomplished artist, veteran art instructor, and established author Mitchell Albala"--

Delve into it, discover how to apply color washes, transform doodles into the beginnings of paintings, mix colors to achieve your desired effects, and capture your favorite scenes in imaginative watercolor paintings. Find the inspiration, the materials you'll need, and the expert instruction--to help you see and think as a watercolorist and develop your paintings in an expressive and personal way--Cover.

Discover Watercolor provides a practical course in painting striking watercolors. Section one, a valuable reference alone, covers the techniques for such common watercolor elements as skies, water, flowers, foliage and animals. Each subject is thoroughly analyzed and illustrated. Section two is a complete guide to mixing color and explores the possibilities with a range of mixes.Section three, which includes more than 20 projects, puts the instruction in sections one and two into practice. Every project, illustrated by masters of the craft, has been carefully selected to cover many different interpretations, styles, and landscapes. Projects include:autumn fieldslakeside scenefishing villageleafy gardenIndian marketIn addition to the hands-on instruction in the projects, readers will get numerous shortcuts and secrets, all with more than 500 color illustrations.

John Singer Sargents approach to watercolour was unconventional. Disregarding late-nineteenth-century aesthetic standards that called for carefully delineated and composed landscapes filled with transparent washes, his confidently bold, dense strokes and loosely defined forms startled critics and fellow practitioners alike. One reviewer in England, where Sargent spent much of his adult life, called his work swagger watercolours. For Sargent, however, the watercolours were not so much about swagger as about a new way of thinking. In watercolour as opposed to oils his vision became more personal and his works more interconnected. Presenting nearly 100 works of art, this book is the first major publication of Sargents watercolours in twenty years. Each chapter highlights a different subject or theme that attracted the artists attention during his travels through Europe and the Middle East: sunlight on stone, figures reclining on grass, patterns of light and shadow. Insightful essays by the worlds leading experts enhance this book and introduce readers to the full sweep of Sargents accomplishments in the medium, in works that delight the eye as well as challenge our understanding of this prodigiously gifted artist.

Push your watercolor painting to the next level by mastering the use of color, light, and shadows. Go beyond trying to copy what you see by designing with shapes, shadows, and highlights. Deepen the expressive nature of your paintings as you capture the subject's luminosity. Master painter William B. Lawrence offers hands-on techniques and insights for intermediate to advanced artists. Light and color take the viewer on a journey. Properly harnessed, they can convey emotion, create a mood, or tell a story. Whether your work is realistic, expressive, or abstract, the options are unlimited. Lawrence explores pattern, hue, contrast, and texture in this treasured classic. Using a combination of theory, demonstration, and practical suggestions this new arsenal of tools, will help you grow as an artist. Other techniques covered include: How to design with light and shadow The use of overlapping patterns How light can express movement Learning to use light and dark to add drama and intensity to your work Discover how to guide the viewer's eye through floodlights, spotlights, and other advanced light-manipulation techniques. Painting Light and Shadow in Watercolor will help you create radiant watercolor paintings and give you greater painting pleasure as you develop new skills which bring your imagination to life.