Review on 🎨 The Art of Watercolor Painting: Master Techniques for Creating Breathtaking Works of Art in Watercolor (Collector's Series) by Thomas Needham (2013-07-15) by Karla Richter

Some people really liked this book and there is really a lot to learn. However, after receiving it and working through it, I realized that much of the work lacked the fluidity and control of tonal value that many watercolor masters have and which is what draws watercolor to me. You can get a lot more out of that than I can. My reasons are of course subjective. Flipping through page after page, I found that the works were illustrative and moderately toned, but lacked the "urge" of fluidity, the spontaneity of splashes of color, the pursuit of light and dark, the command of the limited palette, and the compliment Colors I find so appealing Properties of watercolor paints the jobs I'm looking for. All people are different and will perceive this book differently. What can be helpful are the step-by-step processes that pop up throughout. If you are a beginner, this can be helpful to build your confidence. However, once you understand the concept and process, you may want to move on to more advanced concepts that go beyond the illustrative description of objects and things. Moving on, you might want to move on to understanding lighting, fluidity, transparency, shape, shadows, etc. This book touches on some of these ideas, but is not largely committed to any of these ideas, and has relatively illustrative content without emphasizing or examining those features, which are perhaps more abstract in nature and minimalist in brushwork. The style is illustrative, with lots of detail and mediocre lighting, making the work look flat on the page. But even here you can still find this to be a gem of a book if you like illustrative and descriptive painting. It's just not my bag. The cover is beautifully designed and that's what you get - rendered graphics with some good ideas and drawing tips. In this regard, the book contains material from various artists that the reader/viewer might find interesting and a source of learning. This is a book for beginners. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has been painting seriously for about a year and wants to encourage more abstract ideas in a freer style. This book won't. I don't judge a book by what it isn't, but by what it is. This is a book that contains educational material. This is a book to learn from if you are a beginner. But to really explore the "territory" of watercolor, I think some key features and stylizations that watercolor is famous for need to be included. The title says "Master Techniques" but that's not enough for my taste. Subjective opinion of course.