Customer Reviews

Breaking the Rules of Watercolor

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Rated 4 stars because some of it is in black and white, but this out-of-print book is excellent otherwise. It's clear, very interesting, and a great insight into Burt's methods for this little known technique. I personally have studied with Burt and have done this technique for 17 years, and I now have a blog that has clear picture demonstrations of how to do it! I cover some of the little known aspects that Burt does not cover in either his videos or his books.

Amazon won't let me post my website in this review, so click on my name above, then click on my website, go to my Art Blog, and see the three blogs on Watercolor On Plate Bristol. I even offer free help, with answers to questions, and if you send me a jpeg I can make suggestions...