Customer Reviews

Watercolor Wisdom

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While searching through the vast selection of watercolor books in the city's bookstore, I found this book and feel it is well worth the money I paid for it.

It provides exercises for the reader to practice with watercolor painting, of which involve learning how to control the brush, how to unify and mix colors, and create textures using different effects. My personal favorite lesson of this book is its review of composition. The composition section is a bit hard to understand at first (as is composition in general) but after re-reading the dialog several times, my knowledge of composition in art has improved a great deal.

Though I advise to the readers that this book would be more useful to you if you practice all the exercises, the book will still teach you, even if all you do is simply read and look at the diagrams. I believe this book is most useful for amateur and intermediate watercolor artists, though it may prove to have sound tips for advanced artists as well.

These are lessons and notes which serious students will appreciate having in an organized presentation. Workshop students often are caught up in ptg.and/or keeping up with the class and neglect to take legible notes. The deciphering at a later date,if it happens at all, often times is equal to reading a foreign language. Also, these lessons are passed on to the reader from the author/art instructor's knowledge received from other very well known artists. Many, of which are no longer with us and have become legends.

What a valuable asset to the community of watercolor artists. Jo has shared years of wisdom and experience in a well organized pattern of instruction, focusing on the "rules" of watercolor. Many modern artist "throw out the rulebook" to the detriment of their artistic outcome. Like learning to read recipes before possessing the inate skills to throw out the cookbook, Jo trains her students in the tried-and-true principles of design and composition that springboard into the creative elements of a seasoned artist. Her work is far from textbook traditionalism ~ benefitting the traditional artist to the abstract. This is also not a book just for beginners, though it is absolutely THE book to have as a beginner! Additionally there is a wealth of excellent paintings from Jo, who is an AWS signature artist, and several other artists. Unlike many "vanity" art books which merely feature the author's artwork with a sprinkling of instruction, Jo's book features numerous paintings as a support for the treasure of instruction which is the driving force of the book.

Had classes from her .She is a great teacher , and has much to offer . Stuff not found in most watrercolor books .Very informative .

This book is one of the best Technical Primers about Watercolour Technique that it has been my pleasure to read.
The language is concise and accurate and the illustrations self explanatory.
The book seems to have been written for improvers rather than beginners and I wish I had obtained access to it years ago.

this book is a really great resource for beginners. it answers all of the basic questions one might have who is embarking on the journey to do watercolor painting.