Ready to Paint: Watercolour Hills and Mountains

Mar 09

Ready To Paint are a series of unique books designed for beginning artists who want to paint, but whose lack of drawing ability is holding them back. Each book concentrates on a different popular subject for paintings, and contains six reusable tracings plus full instructions on how to paint the pictures. This title looks at hills and mountains, impressive and appealing subjects for some attractive landscape paintings.

You might have heard me cheering from miles away when I read that this author recommends that beginning painters purchase student quality paints - at last, somebody who agrees with me! After all, these books are designed for the novice who might not take to the subject and regret wasting all that money. This is a particularly good entry in this series for a number of reasons, not least the author's sensible and beginner-friendly advice such as clipping a sheet of paper to a board and not stretching it. In short, this book really is aimed at somebody who wants to discover how much they like painting before going the whole nine yards. The projects themselves have some of the most detailed instructions I have seen and are literally foolproof, while allowing space for the painter to sing with their own voice as the author puts it. Even if you don't want to concentrate on painting this type of landscape this is a good book to buy - I'm impressed.

Jan 10

Would you like to learn to paint but can't rely on your drawing skills? These great books provide no-nonsense advice and easy to follow instructions making painting accessible for people who have never had the confidence to try before. They include outlines of five paintings to pull out from the centre of the book, with clear instructions and step-by-step photographs on how to transfer the outlines on to watercolour paper and then how to create beautiful watercolour paintings.

Mar 09

Once again, this series hits the spot with an uncomplicated guide to painting those landscape elements that prevent your pictures from being just a flat horizon. Arnold paints in a fairly loose style that concentrates on portraying shapes and shading rather than intricate detail so that hills and mountains remain part of the landscape rather than subjects in themselves. As ever, the book features five detailed step by step demonstrations for which outline tracings are provided so that you don't have to get bogged down in the initial drawing. If you don't need these, however, the book stands up perfectly well and you'll find many useful tips that will give your work substance and depth.

March 09

The Ready to Paint series are a really useful addition for artist wishing to practice painting techniques without worrying about the drawing first. Each book carries several drawings ready for tracing and one this step is done the artist can follow Arnolds' easy to understand instructions to complete a beautiful artwork.

Arnold gives an overview of all the materials needed for each project including the colours he uses. He includes several useful tips to help the artist that may be overlooked.

The five projects included in the book use a variety of different techniques that once practised will be useful for future artworks. They are very easy to follow as Arnold clearly explains and illustrates each step. Each one focusses on a particular element of watercolour painting so having completed the book the student will have a god grounding in useful watercolour techniques.

A super book for any artist interested in painting watercolour landscapes.