This hardback book is a combination of watercolour flower painting instruction and pre-dawn sheets of artist quality paper. I am a fan of Julie's beautiful watercolour renditions of flowers. The 6 projects include different techniques and you will use wet-on-dry and wet-in-wet, painting fine lines, gradated washes, glazing and stippling, mixing on the paper, lifting out, negative painting, highlights and shadows, textures with salt and more. The flowers included are Tulips, Hibiscus, Day Lily and Rudbeckia, Clematis, Sweet Pea and Rose. Find out how to use the book, set up for painting, materials, techniques, colour and mixing as well as how to frame your work. Each project has detailed instructions with step-by-step images. In an easy to see box, you'll see at a glance the colours and the size of brush used. Excellent clear photos are used throughout. Recommended for the beginner finding it difficult to get to grips with drawing.
-- Karen Platt * www.karenplatt.co.uk *
This new series from Search Press is simply brilliant and brilliantly simple. Take one look and you'll get it immediately.
The idea itself isn't new - if pre-printed tracings sound familiar, they are. The Ready to Paint series pioneered them and ran to titles that covered just about every subject. Here, they've taken things a step further and put the outlines directly onto watercolour paper. All you have to do is follow the straightforward instructions and you can be sure of a successful result.
It doesn't stop there, though. Yes, there are six projects and, yes, they've been carefully chosen to give you as much variety in your subject as possible. However, you don't have to learn everything all at once. Each project introduces a new set of techniques and challenges, so that you'll be looking at washes, lifting-out, aerial perspective or winter trees at different stages. You'll never feel overwhelmed and, because you're working at your own pace, you can practise as many times as you like - the books suggest making copies of the outlines for this purpose.
When you're done, the whole thing packs up to provide a collection you can refer back to when you branch out on your own.
Julie King looks at six different flower types from Tulips and Clematis to Roses and Sweet Peas. She also starts with an introduction to materials, colours and techniques that you won't want to skip - it's short but wonderfully clear. Each of the six projects includes instructions and an illustration for every stage, so that you can see how colour, structure and shading are built up. This is much more than just filling in shapes and a really meaty course in flower painting.
Although these books are mainly aimed at the beginner, the way they're laid out makes them ideal for revision as well. Everything is so clearly explained that you could use them to practise a subject or technique you're finding tricky. I just love them.
-- Henry Malt * Paint magazine (September 2018) *
Aimed specifically at artists who want results fast, the Paint Pad Artist series uses pre-printed sheets of Artists' quality watercolour paper, with initial outlines for each of the six step-by-step projects, so that you can start to paint straight away. Written by professional artist and tutor, Grahame Booth, The Paint Pad Artist: Watercolour Landscapes, begins with notes on how to use the paper to achieve the best results, as well as how to copy the outlines should you want to try the projects again and improve on your first attempts. A section on the materials you'll need is complemented with guidance on basic techniques, before you get underway with the projects, which get progressively harder as you work your way through.
The Paint Pad Artist: Watercolour Flowers is part of the same series. Written by artist and tutor, Julie King, the book follows the previous format - beginning with how to use the pre-printed watercolour paper, discussion of the materials and equipment needed plus guidance on basic techniques - followed by six step-by-step flower projects to work through.
* Leisure Painter, December 2018 *
