As the title indicates, this is a book of tips on how to paint better watercolor pictures.
There are 85 different tips in here, and they range from choosing paints to laying down washes,
working from photographs to getting to grips with perspective. This is the type of book that
is suitable for both beginners and intermediate level painters, being a gold mine of information
on not only what to do, but what not to do and why.
I like the way this book stays flat for easy reference, when placed near where you are
painting—all practical books ought to have spiral spines! I also confess to being
impressed with how few materials you really need to paint really good landscapes, especially
the paints (only five!). This is very much a book for landscape watercolor artists, and as it
is published in the UK, anybody not wanting to paint pictures of that country will need a
rather different palette, and so a Mediterranean one is also given. I found particularly
helpful the parts where one painting is shown with an error and another shown correcting
it—the early part of this book contains many such examples and they are more helpful
than just words, or just showing the ideal painting.
Most of the pictures shown convey mood, atmosphere and a sense of place wonderfully and
are quite small, so I would love to see a beginner’s book of staged watercolor paintings as
quick and simple. As it is, they illustrate admirably the various tips given, and despite
this being a quick read, I found that it is the type of book that is handy to keep as a
reference to dip into. The combination of simple pictures and the author’s laconic but
perfectly understandable style makes for a user-friendly and successful format. Highly
recommended for anybody who paints landscapes in watercolors—or wants to—and
could use some tips.