The Artist
November 2015
Workshop on the Web
I particularly like Julie Collins book because it takes you right back to the beginning with a very simple approach. It deals with watercolour paints but actually, it doesnt really matter about the medium when you are getting started.I took this book on holiday as it is small, light and doesnt take up too much room. I didnt use the paints and colours that were set out here but instead, took some Koh-i-noor Dye paints and the Koh-i-Noor Watercolour Wheel. I felt that I could find basic colours on which to start my education in these sets.
myshelf.com
Mix exactly the right color first time without wasting paint with this handy book. The same size as the Twenty to Make series (i.e., pocket sized), this new range of paint mixing books is sure to be a hit with all budding artists.
All beginner watercolor artists would find this book useful I think. To start with it contains a useful guide to the materials you need to buy, and more importantly those you don't. At last, a book that realizes student quality paint is good enough beginners, the market at which the paint is aimed-hooray! Also, you can find out what paintbrushes and paper to get and why; this is not a book that advocates wasting money. There is a practical color wheel exercise to try, a guide to buying colors and also to mixing thirteen useful ones. Color theory is not as easy as it sounds, and often it ends up being just that --theory rather than practical application. I have always struggled with it myself, so appreciated the exercises and notes, such as why a certain color is used rather than another and what you need it for. All the usual aspects of color theory are here such as complimentary colors, warm and cool colors, primary/secondary/tertiary, achieving depth, etc. Each is laid out briefly with examples and then it is up to the student to complete the simple exercises and discover what it is all about. The final part of the book shows how to mix colors and what you get, a useful range of shades for pretty much any kind of painting and how to do it. There is a helpful one page glossary at the back, and all this in fewer than fifty pages is admirable, to say the least. I always think that any practical subject like art is more about doing than reading about doing and this book bears this out. Impressive.
myshelf.com
Karen Platt Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk/crafts
Essential colour mixes at your fingertips for watercolour artists. Covers colour theory, achieving depth in painting, suggestions for a limited palette. Great colour charts, good for beginners.
http://www.yarnsandfabrics.co.uk
