Breaking the Rules of Watercolor [Hardcover]

Burt Silverman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1983

Demonstrates a technique developed by Burt Silverman, which utilizes unorthodox painting methods to expand the command of watercolour painting. The author gets the freshness and spontaneity desired in watercolour but has the ability to change his mind, make corrections and build up a watercolour as he might build up a painting in oil or pastel. This book uses step-by-step demonstrations of protraits and figures as well as landscapes to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique. This book is designed to be of interest to artists of all levels of ability.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill; First Printing edition (January 1, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823005232
• ISBN-13: 978-0823005239
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest watercolor book ever, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Breaking the Rules of Watercolor (Practical Art Books) (Paperback)

i was struggling with the medium of watercolor for the longest time, and had little or no direction on how to improve my technique. then one day my art teacher suggested i peruse this book, and wow, my perceptions of watercolor changed instantly. this is the best book on watercolor available. if you are interested at all in the full potential of the medium, you must take a look at this book- you will forever be changed.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Uninspiring, October 26, 2007

By 

Benjamin (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Breaking the Rules of Watercolor (Hardcover)

I am not a great lover of "how to do it" art books, in fact I usually avoid them like the plague; however while search for something else I stumbled across this one and the reviews for the book did tempt me. In fact it does contain some interesting ideas which do go against accepted wisdom, and I will certainly consider adopting some of them.

Yet overall I am not impressed by the book. While it does go into considerable detail on some aspects; namely the type of stock used and how to correct errors, this does become rather overstated, while other aspects are seemingly neglected, or mentioned only in passing. For example very little is said about the consistency of the paint employed. What practical information is imparted could be covered in just a few pages, yet one has to read through a lot of irrelevant and rather repetitive background information to find it. I am disappointed too with the quality of the reproduction of both the colour and black and white illustrations. The printing process fails to convey the luminosity of the paint medium, resulting in very dull and flat images, and as a result they are uninspiring. I would have expected better of a book published not really so long ago.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Develop a Watercolor Painting Without Fear of Canging It, March 4, 2007

By 

M. Eliowitz "mmelio" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Breaking the Rules of Watercolor (Hardcover)

This is one of the few books on watercolor technique that takes the reader along for a ride within the artist's mind as he paints. We share Silverman's thoughts, even his anguish at times, as he develops a painting. His technique, coupled with his honesty, takes a lot of the fear out of painting with this medium. So many instructional books make us awed with the author's paintings, but leave us with the sense that we could never hope to achieve such perfection. This book is different. We understand what the artist is going through as he paints, and he tells us not only how he makes changes, but why. This is a wonderful watercolor book that I would recommend to anyone seriously interested in watercolor.