Artful Watercolor: Learning to Use the Secrets of Light Hardcover – June 5, 2012

The media could not be loaded.  I was drawn by the book's cover for this purchase. I love how the fog is painted, obscuring the two fishermen on the small boat fishing on a misty day.Lou Bonamarte has taught watercolour for over forty years. In this book are his collection of tips and insight on watercolour paintings. The style you'll see in the book is that of traditional realism. There are lots of beautiful examples painted by the author.This isn't a hands-on tutorial book so to get the most out of it, you should already know how to paint watercolour, at least at the beginner's level.This book is about understanding why paintings are painted in a certain way. Using the cover painting for example, the author would explain that the boat's prow is left as a hard edge against the fog for contrast, and for depth, removing the fog from the foreground to reveal the shoreline and also showing the edge of the distant shore. What's not explained is the exact technique used, which in this case I would say is wet on wet, or how the colours are mixed to get the gradated look.The topics included cover light, value, colour and composition. There is more analysis than usual techniques-only books. In some ways, it reminded me of James Gurney's Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter except the examples here are all watercolour.The book does a good job at explaining the concepts. There are some short useful exercises included, which involve copying line drawings and practicing what was taught.Recommended for watercolour beginners, and maybe intermediate painters. This is a nice reference book to accompany other techniques-only book.(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

I bought it for my dad who is a wonderful watercolor artist and has been studying watercolor for 2 or 3 decades. About a month after his birthday he called to thank me again for it, saying that it was the best book on watercolor he's ever read.

Artful Watercolor is an excellent book for learning the essentials necessary for any good piece of art. I liked the way the author referred to his own work showing examples of each of the concepts he was talking about. There are some exercises that allow you to try out the techniques. Although the book looks like it is written for an advanced painter it is easy to read and follow even for a beginner but I am sure an advanced painter would get some worthwhile tips as well. For me , it was the type of book you read once and after you have attempted a few paintings you want to read again. I may even read the section on using values before I start my next painting. I know that what I have learned from this book will help to improve my work.

As often happens with some art books; the best picture is on the cover.The book is rather mundane and almost staid with smallish pictures of the artists work and veryLittle dealing with light and capturing it with the medium of watercolor.I actually bumped into the artist in Central Park Ny and he was the most ungenerous artist I have ever encountered. That tight ungiving quality comes through in this book.. I wanted a more serious work on watercolor painting but the writing and uninspired paintings though done with skill just miss making this worth having. In fact I regret spending the money on this when there are far better works out the such as anything by BellamyThen of curates studying Turner; and some of the great American artists is probably the better wayyo go endues the English masters including Sir Russel flint.

I have only flipped through it at this point. It seems nice I think it will be of help to me.

Artful Watercolor: Learning to Use the Secrets of Light I wish this book had been available years ago. The USE OF LIGHT and shadow as taught here is the KEY to making a painting look more professional, rather than amateurish or more like a cartoon. I think the instruction in this book would be valuable to a painter in any medium. It would be especially valuable to the landscape painter. Much has been written about color, composition, center of interest, etc., all of which are very important, but in comparison, not much is written about the use of light. Without the judicious use of light a painting would be rather flat and without atmosphere.

I feel that I finally understand the basic principles of light in relation to art. Mr Bonamarte's artwork which he uses to illustrate the lessons are beautiful( in my opinion)and helped me enormously when grappling with the subject matter. I have several other watercolor books but none of them addressed the subject of light as well. I do feel there may be a typo or two though.The text on page 54 states that the picture on page 53 has the light coming from the left side of the picture but it's from the right. Anyway, I think it's a great book but perhaps not the first one a very beginner should buy as it does cover in depth.

I am a former oil/acrylic painter who has some experience painting watercolor still life and interiors. I was looking for a book that showed how to achieve luminous outdoor scenes in watercolor. I didn't find that in this book. I learned the lesson techniques when I began painting years ago. The list of recommended paint colors is specific to the artist and not helpful in understanding how paint choices help or hinder in the creation of a luminous painting. Too much text and not enough examples of how the successful watercolor results were achieved. In my experience, watercolor is a wonderful but difficult medium to "get right" and you cannot learn how to build a house (or a painting) by looking at a completed house (or painting.) Sorry - this is a miss for me.

An excellent book with a wealth of information. Unfortunately the artist recommends alizarin crimson in your pallette. This is a pigment that is well known to fade (it is not lightfast), and as such is no longer used by any respectable artist (respectable as in any artist who sells their work). Most brands now make a permanent alizarin crimson from other pigments, usually a blend of two, as no single pigment quite matches the original. Alizarin crimson not only changes colour when exposed to light, even behind special glass, but does so rapidly. It should be used only in art that is meant to be photographed or scanned for reproduction, or for remaining inside a sketchbook. The artist does not give this information for the reader to make up their own mind, nor suggest they use a permanent version. This to me is insulting, as he cannot possibly have avoided this information - great artworks from fewer than 50 years ago are already fading from this pigment. Yes, it's a colour that is unique and hard to exactly match with other pigments or mixes, but the difference is minuscule, and it's better to have art that lasts than art that is faded and changed in colour.For that reason I'm knocking off a star. It kind of soured the whole book for me. I find any artist who continues to use this pigment unconcerned with the longevity of their work once out of their hands, and so insulting to customers and students.

ok.

Un libro che tocca argomenti complessi della pittura ad acquerello,nel paesaggio, in modo esaustivo.Lo consiglio ad acquerellisti che abbiano una buona dimestichezza con la lingua inglese, perché l'argomento sarebbe difficile anche se fosse scritto in italiano.Questo libro più che un libro da leggere è un libro da studiare e proprio per questo motivo l'ho richiesto e sono felice del mio acquisto. Non succede spesso che un maestro voglia spiegare con tanta cura i suoi segreti agli allievi. Lo consiglio quindi pittori autodidatti come me, che vogliano ulteriormente migliorare.

This is a comprehensive, technical and beautiful book, ideal for learners or artists wishing to learn new techniques. The work featured is beautiful and the book itself is worthy of a coffee table.

I find this book very technical and certainly not for the beginning artist. The information is sound but reading the book, I find, is rather heavy going.