Colour and Light in Water Colour (How to Paint)

Issue 111

This stunning book is packed full of bright ideas, tips & expert advice to help you create dazzling watercolours that exclude colour and light. Featuring detailed, step-by-step projects and sections covering materials, techniques & composition - this is the perfect guide for loosening up your painting and unlocking your expressive style.

Sept 10

Jean shows us in this book how to create light in our paintings by way of her clear simple instructions, using a few simple guidelines. She describes in the introduction how for her the capture of light is an addiction - she aims to show us how to look for reflected colours and how to use colour to its fullest extent to create drama and vibrancy in our work. She begins by explaining what colours she uses and why, and that some colours are naturally granulating and some naturally flocculate. She shows us how to use these natural paint properties to best advantage. She also covers what brushes and paper to choose to get the best effects and adds a few tips on other useful materials such as salt, inks and gouache.

Jean tells us how to mix and play with colours to really get to know their properties and how they react with one another. Its an important step for any artist and she encourages us to experiment and see what results. When showing us ways to create light she uses some simple illustrations that make it easier to see what she is telling us, and that light is not simply a strip of lighter colour on a highlighted edge but can take many differing forms, such as dark against light, white sections, using transparent colours and colour fusions. She has some interesting illustrations showing us how to focus on composition in an unusual manner to create paintings full of life.

The three demonstration paintings cover different approaches using the techniques of colours mixing and texture creating discussed previously and by using them one learns more about the value of these approaches to create stunning loose and lively paintings.

An amazing book full of tips for those who want to create stunning paintings full of life and light.