Painting Glowing Colors in Watercolor [Hardcover]

Penny Soto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2003

By making use of Penny Soto's detailed knowledge of watercolour pigments and how they work together, readers are able to learn how to combine and juxtapose colours in a way that will make watercolours seem to glow from within. She uses step-by-step photographs to teach readers how to choose a carefully chosen underpainting. This is one of the techniques that makes colours "glow," and readers will practise this with mini-demonstrations and illustrative instructive art. She also guides readers on light, backgrounds and shadows, with a special chapter on using underpainting to paint reflections in water.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Soto's title provides a brief but complete color education in illustrated instructions for every skill level. She stresses the importance of a professional approach from the beginning, emphasizing the necessity of organizing the materials, then proceeds to detailed analyses and discussions of color values and their "personalities" before moving on to demonstrations of underpainting and overpainting, lighting effects, water reflections, and subtle shadow colorations that even include an exploration of seasonal shadows. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Penny Soto is an accomplished painter and illustrator. Her work is included in the corporate collections of Pacific Bell, Kaiser Foundation and Ralston Purina. Penny's art has also appeared in The Artist's Magazine and Airbrush Action.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books; 1st edition (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581802153
• ISBN-13: 978-1581802153
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for a beginner but still good instruction, March 11, 2005

By 

M. Thatcher "M" (Stockton, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting Glowing Colors in Watercolor (Hardcover)

Although this book is a little too far advanced for the beginning watercolorist, it is full of good instruction for the beginner. Penny uses a lot of different colors. I suggest the beginner study Penny's palette and choose only 1-2 colors in each range. Later more colors can be added. Overall the book is good instruction.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PENNY SOTO, January 9, 2007

By 

Marci Carberry (The Sunshine State) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Painting Glowing Colors in Watercolor (Hardcover)

An absolutely beautifully illustrated and written book. Did I learn anything? Well, yes, I did learn quite a bit on color and setting up my pallette. But to actually paint...not yet as I am a beginner. I think this is a great book to hold onto when one becomes more advanced especially in learning how to use the fabulous colors Penny uses to get the great effects in her paintings. I highly recommend it.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too many colors for the palette, December 3, 2004

By 

Watercolorist "Ines" (Bethesda, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting Glowing Colors in Watercolor (Hardcover)

Although I loved the paintings and the transparency, even I who have been painting watercolors for more than 10 years found the number of paints used are too many and, in trying to do them, found the demonstrations too complicated. I remember an instructor saying that 3 colors to mix was enough. I wouldn't recommend the book to a beginner.