Customer Reviews

Watercolor and Collage Workshop: Make Better Paintings Through Mastery of Collage Techniques

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

 

 

This book delves into the fascinating technique of adding collage elements to watercolor paintings. Basically, this is adding bits of paper of various shapes, textures & colors to the surface to enhance the painting over them.

Experimentation to develop a personal style is stressed here. Basic principles of texture, layering, contrast and color are explored first. Then you see how these elements are incorporated into finished paintings.

The author is an accomplished master of this technique. Many examples of his work are shown in progress & completed. He emphasizes throughout how artists of any level in any medium can apply these concepts to their work.

Whether or not you decide to emulate Brommer's work, this book is a great springboard of ideas and ways of looking at the painting process. It is filled with solid and helpful ideas.

I had to add to the other review. I agree 100% with it but I must quickly add that I think the information in this book made it possible to turn ho hum paintings into exciting works of art! I loved it and my students caught on quickly and several created WC paintings just to use with this added technique.
I was disapointed in the 'samples' shown as examples of the books contents. They were ho hum and certainly not even a fair example of all this great book has to offer the watercolorist or the person who might be interested in a masterful use for collage.
I feel this book is worth any price and a book never loaned from my art library.

There are a number of ways to get beyond the limitations of using watercolor alone, but this book displays with great skill my absolute favorite. You won't find lots of cute journaling tips here (I love those, too). This is a book about more traditional fine art both abstract and representational -- mostly representational. The collage elements used in this book are for texture and also for after-the-fact redesign and repair of paintings you otherwise might consign to the scrap pile. These are the kinds of "repairs" that make your work so much better and more interesting that it could ever have been if you hadn't messed it up in the first place. If you can find a copy, you'll enjoy reading it even if you never take it any farther than that.

The author advocates obtaining a number of fancy oriental papers which do require some collecting. Where I live, that's not so easy, so I've just used plain rice paper and some mulberry papers I've been able to find online, and those work very well for me. If I get a chance to buy more, I will of course, but you don't really *have* to have the variety he recommends.

The book is very old (publish in 1986) so do not think "new" means a current edition. The book has the feel of an old tired 143 page jr. college text. Even in art books can be outdate, because the materials suggested are meant for "1986" reader! A "new" edition that I bought was faded cover and had original price mark out. This was a big disappointment! Save your money buy something current!