Together they provide a complete painting programme.

    The stylish design of this book, along with the interior photographs, illustrations and diagrams, make the learning process simple and fun for beginning painters and provides useful tips for more advanced artists.This book is divided into three sections. In the first section, you will find practical advice on choosing the necessary tools and equiopment as well as hints on mixing colors€”one of the trickier skills to master until you have learned some of the basic properties of color. Next, the techniques used in watercolor painting are explained in detail, from the most basic like laying washes and reserving highlights to some of the more unusual and exciting methods like wax-resist or spattering paint. Tutorials and more than 100 step-by-step sequences demonstrate how to paint a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, buildings, people and still life. Over 180,000 copies sold worldwide.

    Her method begins with action-filled exercises that demonstrate how to play with paint, following no rules. Subsequent step-by-step projects add planning to the mix, demonstrating how to turn loose washes into light-filled watercolors with textural effects achieved by spraying, sprinkling, pouring, squirting, or stamping paint. Engle's approach, and her results, are dramatic and dynamic; now watercolor artists can create their own exciting paintings with help from How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself.

    This is such a book. For more than two years, Linda Cateura has pursued teacher / artist David A. Leffel, notebook in hand, as he critiqued the work of students. Linda Cateura's succinct notes capture his insights, philosophy, painting hints, and general comments.Leffel's classic, painterly, twentieth-century old master style, much in the manner of Rembrandt or Chardin, affords ample illustration of the ideas expressed - through his many paintings, details, demonstrations, and diagrams, almost all in color.No matter what your level of ability, there is something here to apply to your own work, ideas that will cause you to rething your own ways of painting, hints to save you effort, or solutions to persistent painting problems.

    Inside you will learn how to:Create paintings brimming with color using transparent layering techniquesInnovate with masking materials to create crisp edges and eye-catching light effectsUse tone and contrast to bring your paintings to lifePacked with practical information for using color and light, Paint Watercolors that Dance with Light will transform your art.

    In this her fourth book she reveals in depth the techniques she uses to produce her stunning works of art. Every aspect of botanical painting is covered, including the materials and tools you need, preserving your specimens, drawing, painting, color mixing and composition. Richly illustrated throughout with step-by-step demonstrations and examples of Billy’s work, this book is a visual feast as well as an invaluable source of expert guidance and inspiration. With a diverse range of subjects that include flowers, foliage, fruit and vegetables, Billy provides an insight into her painting techniques that artists of all abilities will find both informative and inspirational.

    You choose whether to let the sun blaze or the rain pour, to move a maple tree here or make the trail wind over there, to subdue a hillside with quiet greens or make a forest glow with dazzling golds and reds. It's not only a matter of what to paint, but how to go about painting it.This book examines, one at a time, the three major elements of landscape painting: water, sky and land. You will be encouraged to try numerous ways of painting each one. Then you can choose the methods that best express how the outdoors speaks to you.Let this reliable collection of tips, techniques, ideas and lessons be your companion on a sure path to creative fulfillment and better watercolor landscapes.

    Follow his lead and you too, can create landscapes and still lives in a vibrant, impressionistic style.

    Going beyond the practical application of techniques, Whyte helps new artists capture not just the model's physical likeness, but their unique personality and spirit. Richly illustrated, the book features Mary Whyte's vibrant empathetic watercolors and works by such masters of watercolor as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and Georgia O'Keeffe.

    But not with Art At the Speed of Life author and workshop instructor Pam Carriker as your teacher. She helps you take on faces one quick sketch at a time for faster, easier, more enjoyable drawing and painting. Not your average book on drawing the face, Mixed Media Portraits With Pam Carriker shows easy ways to draw more realistic faces in your own signature style. The goal is not an immaculate finished portrait, but a continually growing collection of personal, expressive sketches that you can use and reuse in your mixed-media work.Inside you'll find:- An easy-to-learn face-mapping technique that allows you to draw faces from your imagination, without a model or photo in front of you - Mini-demonstrations breaking down each facial feature - Simple color combinations for mixing both realistic and out-of-the-ordinary skin tones - 15 step-by-step projects featuring original ways to use your portraits as starting points for mixed-media masterpieces - Tons of expert tips, from selecting the right pencil for the job to creating self-portraits, working with reference photos and using transfer techniques In the true spirit of mixed media, this book is all about combining, layering and experimenting in your pursuit of portrait nirvana. It will get you out of your comfort zone and into the habit of making faces that are truly and uniquely your own.

    Powell has served as a handy reference of essential color combinations for almost 10 years. And now this collection of recipes is available in an updated, convenient format developed with your needs in mind! Conveniently packaged in a concealed wire-o-bound book that lies flat when opened, the recipe cards will always stay in order with no risk of getting lost. The book also includes a Color Mixing Grid—the perfect guide for accurately measuring paints. With mixing recipes for more than 450 color combinations, along with instruction in a variety of painting techniques, Color Mixing Recipes is a valuable and practical resource for both oil and acrylic artists

     In The Essence of Watercolour Hazel shows how wonderfully versatile and beguiling the medium of watercolour is and how to get the most out of it. Hazel stresses how important it is to understand the characteristics of the medium in order to exploit it to the full.  She encourages the reader to explore the properties of watercolour and to be unafraid of strength of colour and brushstroke.Hazel shows through demonstration and projects that tone is king in watercolour and illustrates how to paint light with the use of shade. Armed with this understanding she demonstrates that watercolour is not such an unforgiving medium after all: accidents and mistakes can be disguised, overridden and corrected.The Essence of Watercolour is a culmination of many years of Hazel's teaching and demonstrating, in which she offers inspirational insights into the secrets of watercolour painting and encourages artists to take their art to the next level.

    Or maybe you weren’t afraid—maybe you just didn’t know what to ask or where to start. In The Oil Painting Course You’ve Always Wanted, author Kathleen Staiger presents crystal clear, step-by-step lessons that build to reinforce learning. Brush control, creating the illusion of three dimensions, foolproof color mixing, still-life painting, landscapes, and portraits—every topic is covered in clear text, diagrams, illustrations, exercises, and demonstrations. Staiger has taught oil painting for more than thirty-five years; many of her students are now exhibiting and selling their paintings. Everyone from beginning hobby painters, to art students, to BFA graduates has questions about oil painting. Here at last are the answers!

    All the basic information relating to picture elements, composition, theme and design is provided at the start of the book, together with an exploration of the meaning of abstract painting, and its importance as a means of self-expression and creativity.

    Composition is the harmonious arranging of the component parts of a work of art into a unified whole. Henry Poore examines the works of old masters and moderns in this book and uses these examples to explain the principles of compositions in art.All the paintings that the author analyzes are illustrated in the text — 166 illustrations, including 9 in full color. Thirty-two diagrams by the author accompany his textural discussion of such topics as the importance of balance, entrance and exit, circular observation, angular composition, composition with one or more units, and light and shade. Balance is the most important of these topics, and it is considered in the greatest detail — balance of the steelyard, vertical and horizontal balance, and so on. A complete index enables the reader to locate his own specific areas of interest.To see how a painting by Cézanne, Goya, or Hopper, for example, follows definite principles of composition allows the practicing artist or art student to learn composition from the finest instructors — the artists themselves. This book is also very useful to the art devotee, who will find his appreciation of the subject greatly enhanced.