Customer Reviews

Master Class in Watermedia: Techniques in Traditional and Experimental Painting

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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.

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.

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.

This work has been around since around 1993 in its revised edition. This is one of the better books I have found for those who want to push their skills and test their curiosity. Edward Betts has given us some real challenges here. The book covers such areas as sketching on location, sketching in the stuido, sketching from photographs, transparent water color techniques, mixed media, painting with a brush and even delves into the subject of abstract techniques. It should be noted that this work is not ment for the beginner and is, at times, quite complex. That being said, I cannot help but feel that those at any level can and will learn from using this work. I did enjoy the author's ability to go from water color to acrylic, covering both areas quite well. As with all art books, no single book can do it all, but, as with others, this is a great tool when used with your present knowledge and other works. This is a book I have enjoyed over the years and still use it. Recommend highly.

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.

IF YOU LIKE EXPERIMENTING, THIS BOOK WILL GIVE ME SO SO MANY WAYS TO USE WATERCOLORS, ACRYLIC AND OTHER MEDIUMS TOO. I REALLY ENJOYED USING THE IDEAS AND DETAILED WAYS TO CREATE NEW WAYS TO PAINT.

This book is no longer being printed so it is hard to find and finally I have one, it is more fantastic than I imagined. Great and I wish the author had more books to his name such as this. Thanks for the quick delivery and "no-damage" delivery.

A good basic classic book. Every watercolorist must have in their library