Product Description

A handy, practical and inspirational little book - perfect for the pocket or art bag - showing watercolour painters of all levels how to loosen up their paintings and maintain spontaneity. Written by popular artist Hazel Soan, the book is arranged in two parts: the first section explains all about watercolour and shows what can be achieved with it in a short time span; the second section suggests specific approaches to painting in particular situations. INCLUDES: Covering all the essential techniques, the book focuses on maximising brushstrokes and exploring colours. / Useful advice on deciding what to include and what to leave out / Helpful chapters on painting a wide range of subjects, including people, landscapes, seascapes, buildings, gardens, flowers and still life subjects

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35055 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Hazel Soan is a successful international artist who divides her studio time between London and Cape Town, exhibiting her work widely. She is the author of Collins Painting Workshop: Flowers in Watercolour, Learn to Paint Vibrant Watercolours, What Shall I Paint? and African Watercolours, and regularly contributes articles to art magazines. She has made several successful videos on painting, as well as a number of radio and TV appearances both in the UK and abroad. She is one of the art experts on the popular Channel 4 series Watercolour Challenge.

Customer Reviews

They weren't kidding when they said it was small
I know the write up describes this book as small, but just over 3 inch by 4 is a little too small for me. Yes you can fit it into your pocket to take out with you, but don't forget to pack a magnifying glass to read it as well.

I thought it was going to be bigger otherwise I wouldn't have bought it. Saying that, I love anything to do with Hazel Soan and think she is an amazing artist. I just think this book would have been better served in at least A5 size, then you wouldn't have to squint so much to read it.

The book does pack a good range of tips in it thought so it may be perfect for some people.

Helpful little book
It may be small in size, but it covers all the basics of watercolour painting for the beginner. Has examples, easy to copy for gaining confidence, and gives you inspiration to go further by yourself. Full of information.

beautiful is small
It is small, there's no denying that, but it's not thin on inspiration, information, or beautiful examples. It is Hazel Soan's examples that make this the book of choice for me. Every single illustration right down to the paints, palettes and brushes you're recommended to buy are exquisite examples of 10-minute watercolours. Other examples in the book are breathtaking in their simplicity to convey form and rendering with a minimum number of strokes and colours. As for the size, well part of the attraction of watercolours must be in the ease of carrying. The media is relatively compact compared to others. So, why should the book be any larger than pocket sized? I think it fits perfectly into the watercolour package.

One thing I would say is that it does only deal with a single aspect of watercolour. As the title suggests, it is the use of watercolours as a quick sketch medium. Obviously, watercolours offer more versatility than just quick sketching and, possibly, you might want a more comprehensive manual on watercolours if you're exploring the medium. But if sketching is what you do, especially on the move, in between walking about, or on holiday, you really can't go wrong with this gem packed alongside your paints and brushes.