Painting Successful Watercolours from Photographs

November 2014

This isn't the first book on painting from photographs, but it is certainly one of the best. In his introduction, Geoff is careful to say that it is not about photography itself and that, indeed the photos illustrated may not even be the best. They are, however, representative of the sort of thing you may find in your own collection. Some may have been taken with an idea of using them as a snapshot sketch, some are a quick record of a scene or a place taken, well, just because. Others may be wrongly lit or too complicated to make a good painting.

I think it's also fair to say that this is not a book about how to paint, insomuch as there's an assumption that you know the basics, or have other guides. What you get is much more useful than that: a guide to how to make a successful painting from a photograph. Any photograph. What to include, what to leave out, how to change the lighting or move elements of the composition. The nearest you get to conventional instruction is a note of the palette used, which is very handy as photographs can be misleading (or even simply too dark) in this area.

There are twenty-five demonstrations in all, which also tells you that there are not masses of step-by-step details, just the salient points. Subjects cover landscapes, waterscapes, buildings, people, large vistas and intimate corners. Just about everything, in fact. Bit of a masterclass, actually. You can read more reviews here http://artbookreview.wordpress.com/

January 2015

In his introduction, Geoff Kersey explains that the idea for his latest book, Painting Successful Watercolours from Photographs, grew out of his classes, where he would find suitable photographs for his students to paint then show them how to go about turning the photographs into painting. Although many people choose to work from photographs many struggle to paint successfully from them. Here, Geoff shows us how to do it. Opening chapters deal with materials you'll need to get started and some basic painting techniques, before moving on to the first project - a lake in spring. Geoff shows you exactly how he extracts the information he wants from the photograph. There are 27 studies in total - all accompanied by photographs, sketches, details, diagrams and colour charts with subject ranging from a London park to Vernazza in Italy; a hillside village to a Mediterranean street cafe. The book closes with a few photographs for you to work from on your own using the skills Geoff has taught you.