Customer Reviews

First Steps Painting Watercolors (First Step Series)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great book for the person who wants to try a new medium, or begin painting for the first time. Cathy Johnson's step by step instructional demos and great sense of humor make you want to get in there and just do it. The instructions are VERY clear and easy to understand--she never assumes you know what any given painting term means.

Of all the books out there on Beginning watercolors, this one ought to stand among the top.

This is a no-nonsense, direct, practial and applicable book.

Cathy Johnson, has covered a wide range of topics in a concise and apt manner that makes the most sense for the beginning watercolorist.

Here is what is covered in the book.

MATERIALS
Papers, Brushes, Palettes etc. are covered enough to get started.

THEORY
Colors, Values, Composition are briefly discussed, again enough to get going.

EXERCISES
This is a beautiful part of the book, some of the exercises are : Round brush Exercise, Flat brush, fan brush etc.. Some of them introduces to different materials tools such as palette knife. And there are a few interesting ones, which she calls "fear conquering" exercises. these are beautiful and essential, particularly useful to learn and understand watercolor. In these exercises she explores 'happy accidents' which is the key to successful watercolor.

TECHNIQUE
Various techniques are covered next such as Flat wash, graded wash , wet-on-wet,dry, wet on dry, and the Glazes.

SPECIFIC SUBJECTS
After the essential techniques are introduced, and one is familiar with how to use the tools and paint, we next move to specifics. A variety of subjects are covered, and the color palette is discussed along as these are taken up one by one.
Trees, foliage, grass, skies, water, surfing, falling water, snow, mountain, cliff, rocks, buildings, flowers, fruits, animals, and common things are some of the subjects that are dealt with.

DEMONSTRATIONS
The book concludes with a series of demonstrations of landscape and still life, such as Farm scene, boat scene, etc. wich are step by step, and applies the material covered so far in the book. This is the point when the learner can slowly take to his/her own wings and start creating their own paintings. There is one particular demo where the same scenery is painted using different palettes to create different seasons.

Overall, this is a very crisp and effective introduction to watercolors.

I do not have an extensive art background. Without becoming arcane, the author gives sufficient knowledge and support TO GET YOU GOING. This is the right book for someone who wants to try watercolor but lacks the art background and/or the creative support one would get from an instructor.

basically this is the most helpful of the three beginner books I got about watercolor painting. The book makes no assumptions, so you get to start from the ground up. Author Cathy Johnson tells you what materials to buy, and how to experiment with them before moving on the "easy-to-learn ways to paint"; followed by exercises in painting specific things such as trees, flowers and a little about still life items and animals; and finally a chapter comprising about 12 step-by-step demonstrations of complete paintings. The last chapter, I might add, is not a slavish copying exercise, but includes much general advice for planning and executing you own creative work.

A couple of points about materials. Johnson recommends that you only buy professional artist grade paints and materials, and claims that, at the time of writing (1995) you could get set up for around $50.00. You could expect to easily double that figure for such supplies in today's world. In fact, professional paints alone could run you over a hundred dollars and pro brushes are very pricey, too. My opinion is that you can do these exercises and projects quite well with good student-grade paints and supplies. Right now I am using a set of Grumbacher Academy paints, and that is working just fine. I also have large sheets of Bienenfang watercolor paper, which is useful because you can cut them up into small rectangles to practice things like "pulling a wash", AND you can paint on both sides of it. You will need a few basic brushes such rounds and flats, something called a "rigger", as well as a fan brush you can chop up a bit, and other brushes if desired. There is a full page devoted to ideas of how to play with your brushes to see what they can do--like jabbing, swooping, using the edge, etc. My favorite was the rigger, a supple long-haired brush you can practically dance with!

A word about progress: you will be doing all this brush stuff and trying techniques like dry brush and wet on dry brush for a while before you even start on making anything that "looks like something". Then you'll get some simple tree shapes such as poplar, cedar, oak, etc before moving on to grasses and skies. That is where I am right now. But these basic picture elements are also satisfying to produce. Today I finished page 55, working a couple of hours in the afternoons for a week or so. That is about half of the book, but I expect the later sections to be more involved. Will revisit this review at that point.

I hope this helps!

Although I am taking some watercolor classes, this book had many tips and illustrations and explanations that I did not get in class.

I like all of Cathy Johnson's books, but this one is my favorite. It is very practical, understandable, and well illustrated. Although anyone would enjoy it, this book is especially beneficial to someone just beginning to paint with watercolors. It deals with the basics. I love it.

I just bought this book based on reviews and it's exactly what I needed. The author breaks the techniques down into elementary, bite size bits to see and practice. She then demonstrates a few small elements in the same manner and finally, simple, yet beautiful paintings that a true beginner can accomplish. I can't say enough about this book, it really just opened my understanding so that now, I see things as easy to accomplish techniques, instead of being overwhelmed by the whole scene. It has also helped me to understand my many other watercolor books so that they are more useable for me. I enjoyed it so much I've bought other books written by her, I hope they arrive soon!

This book is great for reference as well as a gift to anyone wanting to explore watercolor! We are given examples and methods as well as how to shop for your supplies. I am giving this to my mom for Mother's Day. I highly recommend this book for anyone at any level.

Cathy Johnson is a down to earth and talented instructor. I thoroughly enjoyed working through "Painting Watercolors" and it came highly recommended to me. I used this book as my basic guideline for studying watercolor and I greatly improved by doing all of the exercises she recommends. She is a very natural teacher and I found it very easy to follow her demonstrations. I am encouraged and feel as if I am really on my way to becoming the kind of artist I always wanted to be.

After taking a couple of 2-hour workshops here in town, I was super-interested in watercolors! I plan to maybe take lessons this winter, but in the interim, this book is helping me alot with good tips on how to prroceed in the arena of watercolor painting. Of course, I am a believer in formal training,but this book will help immerse you in techniques,and how-to's.Either way, it works...You will become an accomplished H20 colorist,OR...You will have the foundation to work with once you start your lessons!!! Good Luck!!!!