Watercolor Painting with Passion! [Paperback]

Alvaro Castagnet (Author), David Dickason (Preface), Patrick Carroll (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2001

Passion is one of the most important elements in a masterful work of art. Without it, a painting is a lifeless collection of composition and technique. Here, internationally respected watercolorist Alvaro Castagnet shows artists how to paint from their heart--capturing more than just subjects, but the thoughts, feelings and emotions that give them impact.

Detailed demonstrations show how to:
* create passion through a perfect marriage of tonal values
* inject mystery and drama by manipulating shadows
* use color to express powerful emotion
* simplify a scene to better express the artist's feelings for the subject
* set a mood, create rhythm, and ultimately achieve perfect unity

Through it all, artists will take their passion for painting--and personal satisfaction from their work--to a higher plateau.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alvaro Castagnet has taught and traveled extensively throughout the US, Mexico, South America, Europe and Australia. His award-winning work is part of private and corporate collections around the world. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: International Artist Publishing (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 192983408X
• ISBN-13: 978-1929834082
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 7.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,156,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Passion Yes, Teaching No, June 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Watercolor Painting with Passion! (Paperback)

I bought this book because I loved the cover and anticipated some directional advice on how to paint this type of city scene. The book has wonderful photos of Castagnet's painting with lots of verbage about the feelings and emotions that he wanted to portray but clearly he did not want to share his techniques to arrive there. There are VERY few demonstrations and, unfortunately, they are lacking in true teaching commentary. It has been very hard to me to follow and try to reproduce anything from the demonstrations. He seems to leave out a lot of the instructions, colors and steps. I can feel his PASSION in each of the paintings included in the book and, therefore, can recommend this book as a resource for ideas not instruction. I believe that this book should have been produced as a table top book rather than an teaching book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More inspiration than perspiration, November 18, 2004

By 

artist/designer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Watercolor Painting with Passion! (Paperback)

This book has value in inspiring intermediate and advanced students of traditional painting to define their own approaches to the creative process. This is not a book for beginning watercolorists, but then there are many other books intended to serve that purpose. In 128 pages, there are only about 7 paintings for which the painting process is shown from initial drawing to completed painting. The rest of the many painting illustrations are accompanied by anecdotes about the circumstances surrounding the creation of each painting. There is some analysis of what the artist intended for each painting in terms of composition, tonal values, use of color, etc. Castagnet also provides a lot of general commentary about his approach to various aspects of traditional painting or--as some might call it--illustration. Castagnet is a very talented watercolorist, similar to many of his best Australian contemporaries, with some signature use of texture and saturated color that sometimes borders on expressionism. Most of Castagnet's paintings are of city and seaport scenes, so the variety of subjects is limited. His paintings of interiors may be his most distinctive; I wish there were more examples of them. It's a pity that the artist has limited his subject matter to such a great extent. The inclusion of more figure studies, and perhaps even some comparatively abstract paintings, might have resulted in a more interestingly varied book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great paintings, January 1, 2003

By 

PHB (Ohio) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Watercolor Painting with Passion! (Paperback)

Castagnet's style and draftsmanship are enormously attractive. He paints bold, bright free watercolors that start with excellent drawing. Most of the paintings in this well-illustrated book are of city scenes. I recommend the book for anyone interested in a loose and fresh approach to watercolor.
However, this is NOT a book to consider in order to learn techniques and methods. There are zillions of "how to" books about watercolor technique. Get this book to enjoy strong fresh well-drawn paintings.