Reviews for How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself: Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects

The average rating for How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself: Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-01-29 00:00:00 Tyler Phillips Four Nita Engle watercolors are included in Chris Unwin's "The Artistic Touch" (reviewed here). My friend and I hunted for the two we dropped our jaws at, and can't find either one for sale. Rocks & Sea is nowhere to be found. My friend, bereft, ordered this book. Me, too. The cover "Morning on the Yellow Dog River" is another painting we can't find. But we're student watercolorists: we knew what we wanted to paint (nature) and we now know how we want to paint. I am so darn lucky that my teacher, Barb Weisenburg, studied with Engle, and what I have been learning is to let the watercolor be itself. Nita Engle plays in water and instructs us to do the same. Observe, observe. Jump in the surf, wade in the swamp, take photos right into the sun to see how the light works. When an art judge, she writes that she looks for passion. The only way to bring passion to the workspace is to have seen and lived what you're painting. The awe, the breath snatched from your body by the view. Whenever possible, do preliminary painting on site. She reminds us that white paper is the light. Water moves in nature, and water moves on your paper the same way. That's how you make water live. Use tools other than brushes. And play, play, play. Roll the water around, push the paint with a knife or your thumb. Experiment. Have fun! One of the most helpful and generous insights is that she includes paintings she had to repair (rejected by the magazine publisher who assigned the art. Oy!) and she tells us why it was sent back to her, and how she saw what needed to be done, and did it. It's a book of joy. And delicious breathtaking art.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-12-12 00:00:00 Joanna Stewart This is a MARVELOUS book defining exactly how to paint misty, watery or cloudy landscapes. Ms Engle purports how to turn the paper this way and that to get the colors to run to on their own -- hence getting the "Watercolor to Paint Itself". However, there are at least 50 excellent drawings of clouds, the sea, reflections in water, snow effects and ice effects. She deals with: stamping rock textures, grass, and with crumpled paper; making repairs; erasing a mistake; handling chalk, masking tape and mask (Mystic) to preserve the white of the paper. She also uses Q-tips, a toothbrush, flinging paint, salt, an electric eraser, and oddly shaped tools, and some experimental techniques in the last couple of chapters, which include outdoor work. The only criticism I have is in her design techniques. She does say to be successful it takes "twenty years and ten minutes." ! Since she lives in Canada (or did) and has done work for Reader's Digest, her qualifications are impeccable. I'm anxious to try her instruction, including carefully spraying water!