Watercolors Resources > Books

The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques
Mayer, Ralph. Various Editions. New York: Viking Penguin, 1991.

The Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing: Techniques and Materials
Hayes, Colin. New York: Gallery Books, 1981.

The Wilcox Guide To The Best Watercolor Paints
Wilcox, Michael. Cloverdale, Perth, Western Australia: Artways, 1991.

100 Watercolor Techniques
Kent, Norman. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1968.

A Brush With Art
Crawshaw, Alwyn. Cinncinnati: North Light Books, 1991.

A History of Watercolour
Brett, Bernard. New York: Excalibur Books, 1984.

Everything You Ever Want to Know About Watercolors
Appellof, Marian. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1992.

How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself: Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects
Award-winning artist Nita Engle’s breakthrough approach to watercolor shows readers how to combine spontaneity and control to produce glowing, realistic paintings. Her method begins with action-filled exercises that demonstrate how to play with paint, following no rules. Subsequent step-by-step projects add planning to the mix, demonstrating how to turn loose washes into light-filled watercolors with textural effects achieved by spraying, sprinkling, pouring, squirting, or stamping paint. Engle’s approach, and her results, are dramatic and dynamic; now watercolor artists can create their own exciting paintings with help from How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself.

How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself: Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects
Award-winning artist Nita Engle’s breakthrough approach to watercolor shows readers how to combine spontaneity and control to produce glowing, realistic paintings. Her method begins with action-filled exercises that demonstrate how to play with paint, following no rules. Subsequent step-by-step projects add planning to the mix, demonstrating how to turn loose washes into light-filled watercolors with textural effects achieved by spraying, sprinkling, pouring, squirting, or stamping paint. Engle’s approach, and her results, are dramatic and dynamic; now watercolor artists can create their own exciting paintings with help from How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself.

Making Color Sing
Through clear, illuminating exercises, this best-selling book stimulates new ways to think about color, generating responses that unlock personal creativity and allow artists to express themselves with paint as never before. Readers are shown how the interplay of complementary hues can trigger vibrations; how the push and pull of warm and cool colors can create a feeling of space; how to disguise one color in a scene to accent another; and many more tidbits of colorful advice.

The Art of Watercolor
Le Clair, Charles. New York: WAtson Guptill Publications, 1994.

The Art of Watercolor: A Guide to the Skills and Techniques
Smith, Ray Campbell. New York: Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1995

The Elements of Drawing
John Ruskin's The Elements of Drawing, first published in 1857, remains one of the most sensible and useful books on how to draw and paint, both for the amateur and the professional artist. Ruskin reduces the art of drawing to its simplest elements-the making of marks, the perception of shapes and silhouettes- before going on to more complex exercises and the use of color.

The Watercolor Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artists
David Dewey. New York: Watson-Guptill. 2000.

The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook: Landscapes
This inspiring guide provides artists with the knowledge they need to paint watercolor landscapes. It features easy-to-follow exercises illustrated in an accessible format that invites readers to jump in and begin painting right away. Artists of all skill levels will learn from: -30 step-by-step demonstrations -Chapters that focus on basic landscape elements, such as land, water and sky -Special mini demos for capturing important details, including trees, mountains, waves, clouds, sunsets and more. Most importantly, this guide’s instruction teaches artists the foundations of strong composition and encourages them to pursue their own individual style to create landscapes that are compelling and unique.

The Watercolorists Essential Notebook

Watercolor Artist's Guide to Exceptional Color

Watercolor Basics: Let's Get Started

Watercolor in Motion: How to Create Powerful Paintings, Step by Step
Painting wet-into-wet is one of the most popular yet challenging ways to paint with watercolor. There is no other book that contains this type and quality of instruction in print and DVD/video. Features a 50-minute DVD that allows readers to actually see how to manipulate paint and water. Watercolor in Motion not only provides dynamic step-by-step photos of watercolor painting, it also points readers to specific tracks on the accompanying 50-minute DVD that will show them the techniques they need to successfully paint wet-into-wet. The book covers color and design, value, shapes and shadows. Readers will find step-by-step demonstrations of many different flowers and still life subjects as well as 18 mini-demos teaching the techniques needed to be a successful painter. Throughout the mini-demos readers will find cross-references to the DVD showing how to correctly hold the brush and apply paint using the popular wet-into-wet technique.

Watercolor School

Watercolor: The Art and Technique of Watercolor Painting
Pike, John. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1973

Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light

Watercolour Textures
Ann Blockley is a successful artist, known for the innovative way in which she uses texture as a key element in her work, and this guide for intermediate painters looks specifically at how she achieves her stunning effects. Creating texture in watercolor can be quite a challenge, but this book brings a fresh approach to the subject. Ann explains how to manipulate the paint by lifting out color, scraping and scratching the paint, and using additional materials such as wax, salt, and metallic pigments. She also explains how the surface itself can play an important role in the effects that can be achieved, and experiments with acrylics, inks, gouache, and collage, as well as with watercolor. Ann also looks at the creative process and provides insights into how to develop ideas and portray texture in specific subjects, such as flowers and foliage, animals, still life, buildings, and landscapes. In order to provide a broader view and different styles of painting, the work of several guest artists is also featured.