Watercolour for the Absolute Beginner

Matthew Palmer is a renowned demonstrator of watercolour painting, and his classes are particularly popular with beginners. He has been painting professionally for over 20 years and specializes in landscapes, still life and animals. He has his own studio at his home in Derbyshire, UK and teaches hundreds of people each week, as well as running watercolour workshops and holidays. He participates in several art shows and appears regularly on television as well as on his own internet-based art show at www.watercolour.tvMatthew has written a number of books with Search Press, with total sales of over 125,000 copies worldwide.

Palmer (Watercolour Animals for the Absolute Beginner) presents an updated edition of his best-selling book, offering readers fresh artwork and numerous tips gleaned from years of teaching watercolor painting.Starting with a detailed look at needed materials, Palmer discusses the qualities of various paper weights and textures and helpfully includes photos of different brush types to aid readers in identifying them. Appreciating that new watercolor artists may struggle with underlying drawings, Palmer illustrates simple but effective tricks for rendering buildings, animals, people, and objects, and also gives readers exercises for practicing single and two-point perspective.Palmer covers topics including composition, light and shadow, and the importance of tonal contrast in creating realistic depth, as well as techniques like using masking fluid to preserve highlights. Recommending two alternative sets of primary colors, Palmer shows which additional colors can be made by mixing them and also advises readers on creating shadow tones.VERDICT: Palmer’s detailed landscapes are likely to intimidate beginner artists, but the wealth of practical advice he offers should aid those who feel confident enough to try to replicate his paintings.

• Introduction 6Materials 8Easy drawing for painting 14Composition 18Easy perspective 22Light & shade 28Colour 34Watercolour techniques 40Painting skies 48Painting trees 54Painting water 62Painting figures 66Your first watercolours 70Exercise: Simple landscape 72Windmill – step by step 74Exercise: Simple seascape 84Cornish Seascape – step by step 86Exercise: Snow scene 96Village in Snow – step by step 98Exercise: Mountains and lakes 108Lakeside Houses – step by step 110Exercise: Waterfalls 120Bluebell Stream – step by step 122Exercise: All-rounders 132King of the Lake – step by step 134Index 144