Product Details
Watercolour Textures (Collins Artist's Studio)

Watercolour Textures (Collins Artist's Studio)
By Ann Blockley

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Product Description

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.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #98511 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-10-28
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 128 pages

Features

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Ann Blockley is a well-known painter and teacher and regularly runs very popular watercolour courses and workshops. She is the author of several books on painting, including three titles in Collins Learn to Paint series and the successful Flower Painting Through the Seasons. She also writes regularly for Leisure Painter magazine.

Customer Reviews

Much more than the title suggests5
If you are familiar with Ann Blockley's flower paintings, you will be surprised by this book. (You can see a gallery of Blockley's paintings on her website.) It is no ordinary, watercolour how-to book, and the cover and title give nothing away. In this book, the author admits that she has stepped well outside her comfort zone to explore an entirely new approach to the painting process. We can be very glad that she did.

The simple chapter headings give no idea of the innovations Blockley presents. There are the usual texture mediums described in other art instruction books, but Blockely applies these mediums in entirely new ways: clingfilm, salt, inks, granulation medium, bubbles and foam, gold and silver pigments, paint resist and more. The beautiful colour illustrations inspire and encourage the reader to experiment, but the text is even more important.

You could approach this book in one of two ways: either you can use it for the techniques alone, or you can use the techniques to move outside your artistic comfort zone as Blockley has done - beyond what is familiar in your established approach to painting. Blockley admits that it took courage to do this publicly in a book. Any artist - of any medium - can take heart - and inspiration - from what the author shares of her out-of-the-zone process.

This book has plenty of demonstrations and includes three guest artists: Shirley Trevena, Moira Huntly and John Blockley, all of whom explored art mediums in daring ways. You can google all three names and take a look at their on-line galleries.

I nearly didn't buy this book because watercolour is not my medium. I am so glad I did. It's one of the best books I've come across for encouraging the exploration of new ways of artistic expression - in any medium. Better still, Blockley makes the process simple, interesting and fun.

Outstanding!5
I pre-ordered this book quite a while back and it finally arrived yesterday. WOW! Was it ever worth the wait! Every page is inspirational. I am primarily an oil painter but this book has inspired me to get back into watercolor. I must have 100 watercolor books but this is the one I would save in case of fire. What a great book!!!

Watercolour Textures3

If you are looking for someone to hold your hand, forget about
this book. Ann Blockley is a better painter than teacher, since she assumes you know quite a bit about watermedia. However, if you have a good foundation in painting, she can introduce you to some very nice techniques.