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Watercolour Seascapes
Take Three Colours Series
Geoff Kersey

Search Press
31 August 2017/ ISBN 9781782215271
How-To Books/Art

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

 

AMAZON US || UK

Last year I reviewed this author’s first Take Three Colors book on Watercolor Landscapes (also reviewed on this site) and was impressed with it. Now here is a second book on seascapes and like the first one, is aimed squarely at the total beginner who wants to give painting a go but doesn’t want to buy up the art shop.

The caption below the title on the cover reads “start to paint with 3 colors, 3 brushes and 9 easy projects”. Add in some paper and a cheap plastic palette plus a few other household basics (cocktail stick, ruler, pencil etc) and you are good to go. This author has not forgotten what it is like to be a beginner with a budget, or just anybody who does not want to buy a lot of materials only to find that art is not for them. You get started with the painting fairly immediately too, after a very brief and essential introduction explaining about mixing colors, adding water and using brushes. There are nine projects in here each of which teaches a basic watercolor skill, and these are listed under the title with each project. Each of these is illustrated with plenty of good-sized photographic steps together with short helpful captions and “Jargon Buster” points explaining terms. There are handy tips and a nice touch is the photo of a palette showing the mixed colors so you can get the shades right. The pictures get more complex as you progress, from very basic beginnings showing boats with reflections through to scenes of dunes, two lighthouses, an estuary, and Bamburgh Castle. At the back is a page about transferring the outlines of the full-sized paintings using tracing paper, or you can draw them freehand plus how to add a boat to one of the scenes. I have reviewed a lot of books on painting for beginners but this series is the best to date. Very highly recommended for anybody who wants to learn watercolor painting.

Reviews of other titles by Geoff Kersey

Watercolour Landscapes (Take Three Colours)
Mediterranean Landscapes in Watercolour (Take Three Colours)
Watercolour Seascapes (Take Three Colours)
Bluebell Wood in Watercolour (Paint it)
New York in Watercolor (Ready to Paint)
Trace and Paint Watercolour (Ready to Paint)
Trees and Woodlands In Watercolour (Ready to Paint)
Trees, Woodlands and Forests in Watercolor (What to Paint)

More Watercolour studies by Geoff Kersey at AmazonUS || AmazonUK

If you cannot find a good range of watercolor painting materials locally try www.searchpress.com for a list of suppliers.

UK Reviewer: Rachel Hyde's work can be found in The Bead Magazine, Making Jewellery and www.craftsuprint.com/rachel-a-hyde/
Reviewed 2017
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