Watercolor Made Simple with Claudia Nice [Paperback]

Claudia Nice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2003

Expand your artistic horizons with watercolor!

Watercolor is a fun, challenging medium that captures the magic of light and color. Now world-renowned artist and instructor Claudia Nice helps you get started in watercolor today.

In Watercolor Made Simple with Claudia Nice, you'll start with the very basics, learning new techniques as you paint. Detailed instructions and step-by-step artwork show you how to:

• Explore the amazing variety of effects you can get by painting watercolors on dry, damp or wet paper
• Mix paint and water to create a variety of soft, beautiful washes
• Use fun and easy techniques such as spatter, sponging and stamping to bring a lively new look to your work
• Blend colors on your palette to capture the precise shade you're seeking
• Use your brushes, papers and paints to produce wonderful textural effects

Throughout, you'll find helpful troubleshooting tips, practical exercises, and Claudia's encouraging advice - all so you, too, can become a watercolor pro.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You and the watercolour can learn to become creative partners. As you relax and begin to know and understand the medium, you will find, to your delight, that it is both able and willing to do some of the creative process on its own. Watercolour truly is a unique and gifted child. So take it by the hand and walk unfettered by fear into a special world of artistic adventure." - Claudia Nice

About the Author

Popular among both fine artists and decorative painters, Claudia Nice is known for her friendly, unintimidating art instruction. With over 400,000 copies sold, her nine bestselling North Light titles include Creating Textures in Pen and Ink with Watercolor, How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal, and most recently, Creating Creatures of Fantasy and Imagination.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (May 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158180251X
• ISBN-13: 978-1581802511
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #567,397 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Claudia Nice is a successful and well-known pen & ink artist, teacher and author in the US. She teaches students from all over the world at her studio in Oregon. Claudia lives with her husband in the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon border.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good reference book for all levels, December 4, 2005

By 

Rekha Achyutuni (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Watercolor Made Simple with Claudia Nice (Paperback)

This a very good book. It covers many aspects of painting in watercolor, including some difficult-to-find tips like mixing convincing shadow colors, working with color triads (3 colors) to create mood, and a list of common colors that are transparent, opaque, staining, or granulating.

There are troubleshooting tips to help the beginner who wants to achieve certain effects but cannot figure out what went wrong.

The book has only 127 pages, but it is fiiled with useful information about techniques like washes, glazing, layering, masking and spatter. There is also some information about the use of unconventional aids like stamping, sponging, alcohol and plastic wrap. Every page is filled with Ms. Nice's realistic yet magical artwork.

Where to use transparent or opaque watercolor, and how to test pigments for transparency would have been some welcome additional information.

Overall, it is a good book to own, especially for the beginner to intermediate levels.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Claudia Nice certainly is!, July 26, 2008

By 

Joan Shearer (Carroll Co., MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Watercolor Made Simple with Claudia Nice (Paperback)

This book was suggested for me since I am a relatively newcomer to watercolor. The person who suggested it has been a painter and teacher for over 70 years(she is 95 and still teaches a small group). She was right its a great book for people such as myself.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watercolor made simple....almost, January 29, 2006

By 

Gayl Miller "Gayl 'gayl28012' Miller" (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Watercolor Made Simple with Claudia Nice (Paperback)

Great book, but not simple enough for a total beginner like myself.