Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting: Amazon.ca: Edgar A. Whitney: Books

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6 Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamentals of graphic design as applied tp watercolor, Sep 20 2003

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silversurf (Planet of Paint) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting (Paperback)

I wish publishers would stop calling their books "Complete Guides" to a subject. No guide to watercolor-or anything else-can possibly be complete. This raises unrealistic hopes that the reader will soon find are unfounded. However, I love this book, and recommend it to serious students of painting, despite the unfortunate and rather bogus title.

A better, though more cumbersome title, might have been "Introducing the Fundamentals of Graphic Design as Applied to Watercolor Painting."

While this book does not offer every possible bit of information you will ever need to paint in watercolor, it can teach you how to design your paintings thoughtfully and well. The author understood the fundamentals of design, and explained them clearly and logically. Many of his own paintings are included as instructional examples. I found them very helpful, although the black and white reproductions are not always easy to "read".

Some people like to paint intuitively and emotionally with no conscious cosideration of design. If this is your preference, and you have no wish to consider other approaches, this is not the book for you. This is also not the best book for someone looking for in-depth lessons in color theory. There is some discussion of the general working methods and materials of traditional watercolor painting, but that alone would not make me recommend the book. Much of this information can be found in the many introductory watercolor books on the market today. These often have great visual appeal, with lush color reproductions, lots of sparkling white space. But looks can be deceiving. While this rather plain-looking book will not win a beauty contest, get to know it well and you will find that it has hidden charms.

What makes this book so valuable to me is its emphasis on drawing and composition as the foundation of painting. If you share the authors faith in this foundation, but have not been able to master these subjects through your own efforts, this book can be an excellent (though not complete) guide.

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2.0 out of 5 stars so-so, July 8 2002

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virginia Hoge (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting (Paperback)

I know I am not a traditional watercolor painter but I thought I could learn something from this book - given the glowing reviews I had read. Well.... right off the bat, the paintings Whitney uses for his examples, are horrible! its really hard to learn from a painting teacher when you don't like their paintings. He writes pretty well and poetically and seems to really love watercolor. Its just you do not see him putting his words into practice with his work and that makes it really hard to get into what the guy is saying.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The basics of producing fine watercolors, Dec 16 2001

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting (Paperback)

Edgar Whitney's Complete Guide To Watercolor Painting comes from a watercolor painter/teacher who provides beginners with the basics of producing fine watercolors, from landscapes to portraits. Black and white and a few color illustrations round out his advice in this reprint.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A review of basics as presented byWhitney, one of the best!
I own the original. Great book for those that don't have access to the original.

Published on Nov 24 2001 by radiger

3.0 out of 5 stars overrated but still worth having
edgar whitney was perhaps the most influential american watercolor instructor of the 20th century, and this book (first published in the 1960's) is the popular and definitive... Read more

Published on Oct 26 2001 by drollere