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Watercolor: Simple, Fast and Focused (Practical Art Books)
 
 
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Watercolor: Simple, Fast and Focused (Practical Art Books) (Paperback)

by Mel Stabin (Author) "To create a painting of substance, there are three essential activities done as part of the painting process that are worthy of serious consideration-I call..." (more)
Key Phrases: value pattern sketch, dark values, Designing Your Painting, Cape Porpoise, Andrew Wyeth (more...)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)


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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"Let Mel Stabin teach and inspire you to follow his "Big Three" watercolor concepts and go beyond technical proficiency in your painting: simplicity is a powerful force; the worth of your painting does not depend on how long it took to paint it; and clarity of thought and emotion are essential in art."--BOOK JACKET.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 112 pages
  • Publisher: Watson-Guptill (June 1, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0823057062
  • ISBN-13: 978-0823057061
  • Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #570,399 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
To create a painting of substance, there are three essential activities done as part of the painting process that are worthy of serious consideration-I call them "The Big Three". Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
value pattern sketch, dark values
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Designing Your Painting, Cape Porpoise, Andrew Wyeth, The Big Three
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Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Attractive and inspiring -- good philosophy for watercolor, January 14, 2003
(4.5*) I thought I had given up buying watercolor books but this inspired me enough to purchase again. Probably not a beginners book -- but good for somebody that already has the basics nailed and is looking for inspiration to move to the next level or perhaps looking to develop a looser style (although Mel's work is hardly loose for the most part, it is refreshing clean and relatively simple yet effective). The images rather than the text was my main reason for buying (although I like the concepts presented) -- I am beyond the beginner books now, so it is important for me that the images are inspiring.

The images presented cover a nice range, including tropical and local scenes, water scenes, figure drawing and portraits.

Highlights:
- I love the pictures, Mel's style, subject and composition appeal greatly to me. Personal taste I guess.

- love the philosophy: simple, fast, focused -- that is what watercolor is all about to me and what I strive for.

-- Mel provides some useful insights that help get the right mindset for this approach

Low points:
None really. If pushed:

- Mel's attractive and distinctive figure drawing style could easily be mistaken for that of Charles Reid, very similar -- but it is a great style that I want to see more of, so I can't complain.

-- the fairly sparse text is less inspiring that the images. The images are great though, so they are tough act to follow --
and this is an art book!


A very attractive and inspiring watercolor book. Recommended!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a beautiful book!, January 14, 2001
By A Customer
I find the concepts easy to grasp and the demonstrations clearly laid out. A few more demonstrations would be useful but not necessary. I've been struggling to move to a looser, more emotional painting style and this "simple, fast and focused" concept seems to be just what I need to point me in the right direction.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilled but have reservations, September 11, 2004
Stabin is an inspiration making glorious and beautiful watercolors. His painting and some of his ideas are wonderful, especially for this experienced artist new to watercolor. But he cannot express his ideas clearly in words, making up his own terminology to explain concepts in art and design that were fully worked out hundreds of years ago. If you really squint hard you can understand what he means, but his editor should be sent back to grammer school. She didn't even catch his use of the wrong words..."creditable" for "credible", for example. The publisher gets marked down for splitting the important part of many pictures at the gutter.
Anyway, the books are worth every penny.
A 40 year artist new to watercolor.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars well done book
Love the book....hard to get because it is now out of circulation. Easy to read and follow.
Published 10 days ago by Ally Morrison

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Book
Ive read some books that its just too complicated for my level to follow. This book is simple and fun.
Published 17 months ago by H. LIM

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the very best
If you love loose and juicy watercolor painting, you'll love this book.
It is filled with goodies, wonderful paintings and demos on how they were done. Read more
Published on January 3, 2007 by R. laird

5.0 out of 5 stars A Five Star Book-Very Inspirational!
This excellent book is throughly deserving of its 5 star rating. The reproductions of Stabin's watercolors (150 of them) are beautiful. The text is clear and interesting. Read more
Published on January 1, 2007 by Carol D. Westphal

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for artists
This is an excellent book for not only water colorists but for all artists...I had to pick up courage to paint in a loose style for years... Read more
Published on November 24, 2006 by Srinivasan Nenmeli Krishna

5.0 out of 5 stars An Accurate Title for Stabin's Book
Stabin's book is aptly titled "Simple, Fast, and Focused". His book on watercolor has the perfect balance of visuals and text, each commenting on and highlighting the other. Read more
Published on November 9, 2006 by Stephen D. Rice

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring
This is the type of artist-written book that I love! Mel Stabin is inspiring as well as interesting, and reminds all us would-be artists why we are doing this. Read more
Published on July 25, 2006 by Andrea Friedell

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn from a master!
Mel's books and videos (the videos are available on his web site) are the best guides I have found. I have purchased other books, one of which was almost "paint by numbers" in its... Read more
Published on April 1, 2006 by singer-songwriter

5.0 out of 5 stars "hey I can do that!"
While Mel Stabin's style is much looser and more direct than mine, I still value his approach to watercolor painting. Read more
Published on August 10, 2005 by Roland Lee

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great instruction books.
The title says it all. I do want to quibble with a previous review who said Mel 's editor needed to have changed "creditable" to credible becasue creditable is not a word. Read more
Published on June 9, 2005 by Nigel

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