Master Class in Watermedia: Techniques in Traditional and Experimental Painting [Hardcover]

Edward Betts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1993

Now completely revised in an updated, four-colour edition, this is a reference for the serious artist working in transparent watercolour, gouache, casein, acrylic, and mixed media. Reviewing basic methods and exploring a variety of techniques, artist Edward Betts invites painters who have reached a certain level of technical expertise to expand their range of pictorial possibilities. Through a series of progressive chapters, Betts analyses sketching strategies (both on-location and in the studio), sources for pictorial images (including photographs, memory, reading, and studio experimentation), and the textures and effects obtainable in each of the watermedia. Collage, mixed-media, and brushless methods are considered as tools for gaining a deeper understanding of the formal possibilities of subject matter. Betts then assesses the complex relationships between nature and abstraction, for descriptive realism to pure design. Finally, readers are encouraged to evaluate their art critically and appraise their creative strengths and weaknesses.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Edward Betts, recipient of more than seventy exhibition awards, is represented in major museums in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Brazil, and England. He lives in Kennebunk, Maine. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill; Rev Sub edition (September 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823030172
• ISBN-13: 978-0823030170
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #921,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Master Class in watermedia, August 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Master Class in Watermedia: Techniques in Traditional and Experimental Painting (Paperback)

This book is an inspiration for any artists interested in mixed media and developing their skills towards non-representational painting. It is very well written and aimed at the more advanced painters in water media. Edward Betts uses his own paintings for illustrating and inspiration. This is one book that is a must for your studio bookshelf - borrowing it from the library for a quick read will not satisfy the need to return again and again to its inspirational pages.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your ordinary watermedia book, March 15, 2006

By 

artist/designer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Master Class in Watermedia: Techniques in Traditional and Experimental Painting (Paperback)

This book is not for beginners, but if you are searching for inspiration to move beyond more conventional approaches to painting in watercolor and acrylic, this might be a book worth owning. Edward Betts' observations are well-grounded in his academic experiences (at the U. of Illinois, where he went to grad school and later taught painting for many years, and at Yale, where he studied art history). As a result, he gently but insistently nudges his readers away from more traditional sorts of painting methods (although he still finds some value in doing that sort of painting from time to time, and he provides examples of such work). Betts advocates a much more experimental, abstract, painterly and, therefore, a more personal approach. Some readers may find that his painting style is not all that much to their liking, but if they keep an open mind, they still should find value in the ideas about painting that Betts articulates so well. These ideas have been around for quite a while now, but he does a fine job of explaining them to those readers who still think of painting in more traditional, illustrative terms. Betts challenges such painters to create art that is distinctive and inspired, rather than imitative and predictable.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have...., August 11, 2002

By 

Patricia Don Diego "IMZORRO" (Stevensville, Mt. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Master Class in Watermedia: Techniques in Traditional and Experimental Painting (Paperback)

What a wonderful book.
Better than a class.
Not a step by step kind of book, but one to give you good solid art
methods so you can explore in your own style.
It opened my mind.
I haven't been this excited about my work in ages.
Thank you Edward Betts for sharing your wisdom.