You Can Paint Watercolors [Paperback]

Alwyn Crawshaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Light on words, heavy on pictures, this totally user-friendly how-to book can turn an absolute beginner of any age, who has never held a paintbrush before, into a productive and proud watercolor painter.

Basics open the book, as readers are shown the range of watercolors and how to mix them. Then simple wash techniques and the painting of light and shadows are presented. Next, step-by-step demonstrations show how to paint separate features of a still life or landscape—fruit, vegetables, flowers, trees, and skies—then how to combine these elements into lovely watercolor paintings.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

I worry when I see books claiming categorically that everyone can be taught to paint. These two books confidently insist that the "absolute" beginner can produce pastels and watercolors in no time. In Blake's attempt to prove this, she sensibly points out that pastels can be seen as crayons for adults no messy oils, tubes, and brushes to deal with. She takes the student from simple marks on a page through tone, perspective, and so forth to simple still lifes, landscapes, and figures. Despite initial doubts, Blake does deliver in this volume, and for those on a budget, it's less than half the price of Jackie Simmonds's more comprehensive Pastel Workbook: A Complete Course in Ten Lessons (LJ 11/15/99). With an identical format and purpose, Crawshaw takes on watercolor for the beginner. Starting with a basic flat wash, he advances to simple fruits and flowers, people and buildings. Unlike Blake, he skips certain drawing fundamentals. Nevertheless, this delightful little book will complement Mary Whyte's Watercolor for the Serious Beginner (LJ 3/15/98). Both step-by-step guides for the absolute beginner are recommended, especially for libraries on limited budgets.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Alwyn Cranshaw, England’s top television artist and popular author of art instructionals, is known for his particular expertise in teaching beginners.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823059898
• ISBN-13: 978-0823059898
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Cranshaw makes it really simple, February 5, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Can Paint Watercolors (Paperback)

The author/artist has the gift of taking complex painting subjects (landscapes, animals, people) and expressing their nature in simple strokes of watercolor. The effect is far from simple; it's that stripped-down-to-the-essentials that makes watercolors so appealing yet difficult to learn. One or more strokes of the brush, and you've gone too far and the painting is overworked and wrong. This book will help you over that perenniel problem.

Mr. Cranshaw's book is full of examples on which you can learn, copy and base your own outdoor and studio painting. His sense of fun is never far away. I have other books from this author and I did some really great paintings of cattle immediately and easily after reading and trying his methods. If you want to simplify and improve your watercolor, get some good techniques for plein-air (outdoors) work, I can't recommend this book enough.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect introduction, February 28, 2006

By 

Mary Lemma (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Can Paint Watercolors (Paperback)

I wish I'd found this book when I was just starting. I'm an intermediate watercolor student who loves books on technique and buys them frequently. But even as someone who's been painting on and off for a few years, I delighted in finding Mr. Crawshaw's book at the library recently. It's chock-full of simple but useful demos--starting with a carton box, for instance--and progresses to fruits, vegetables, still lifes, animals, landscapes, people and water. The text is minimal and practical. Just last week I painted some fruits from his exercise and they were the best I've painted. An instructor teaching true beginners should at least know about this book, and beginners or even intermediate students looking for some simplified exercises from which to practice should try it. I may even add it to my collection.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect introduction for beginners, January 24, 2010

By 

A. de Shazo (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Can Paint Watercolors (Paperback)

Alwyn Cranshaw keeps things simple for beginners like me who have never taken an art class since fingerpainting. He recommends that you start with a small basic pallet, 3 essential brushes, a pad of paper, and water. The recommended beginner list in some other books filled a page and I have no idea how to use them. He breaks down techniques and has exercises you can do to demonstrate various techniques rather than only writing a page or two describing them. None of the exercises feel tedious and are nice to look at. They go step by step and build on what you have already learned. I've learned so much in a short amount of time. No major works of art from me yet but I'm just painting to enjoy myself.