I thought it was about time I read up on urban sketching. Even if I'd not been given those markers for Christmas, I was planning on heading out at...
Category: Book Reviews
Keys To Drawing, Bert Dodson – Book Review
I've made it to the end of Bert's book at last. At 224 pages long, it's huge. The first five chapters were fantastic. They're on contour...
Zoltan Szabo’s 70 Favourite Watercolor Techniques – Book Review
Another book review. Today it's Zoltan Szabo's 70 Favourite Watercolor (sic) Techniques. I bought this a couple of days ago after spotting that...
Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain, Betty Edwards – Book Review
I was hopeless at drawing just two weeks ago but you'll have seen in my last couple of posts that this has changed and it's all down to this book....
Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain – Progress Update
I still have one book from my birthday left to read and review. It's Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain by Betty Edwards. I'm about 40% of...
Light And Shade In Watercolour, Hazel Soan – Book Review
I feel so guilty for saying this, because I do like all her other books in my collection, but this is a clunker from Hazel. I was hoping that this...
Making Color Sing, Jeanne Dobie – Book Review
160 pages, paperback. So what's in this book then? Well, the first 100 pages are about colour. What to have in your palette, some colour mixing...
How To Draw Animals, Jack Hamm – Book Review
It's another Jack Hamm book, a 120-page paperback about drawing animals. Just like the Jack Hamm book on people and faces, this isn't a book to...
Drawing The Head & Figure, Jack Hamm – Book Review
And now for something completely different. A book that can't be read. This isn't a book that you can sit down and read cover to cover because...
Dynamic Watercolours, Jane Betteridge – Book Review
This one's a 144 page paperback and is absolutely packed with ideas. While it's a paperback, it feels more resilient than other paparbacks, with...
Jean Haines’ Atmospheric Watercolours – Book Review
It's back to the watery world of Jean Haines with this chunky 176-page whopper. This book is very much focussed on technique rather than on...
The Essence Of Watercolour, Hazel Soan – Book Review
Next up is The Essence Of Watercolour by Hazel Soan. It's a 128 page paperback. This was a really quick read. I got through it in one evening....
Birthday Book Stash
I got all these nine new art instruction books for my birthday. It may take some time but I'll definitely be reading them all and posting reviews...
Expressive Painting, Joseph Stoddard – Book Review
My birthday's coming up and I have loads of new art instruction books to look through. First up is this 128 page volume by Joseph Stoddard, which...
Ann Blockley’s Watercolour Workshop – Book Review
I saw this one the other day in a bookshop in Bluewater and it looked so good, I decided I couldn't wait until my birthday. I had to have it. ...
Keep Painting, Gordon MacKenzie – Book Review
This one is 144 pages long and the first thing I notice is that it doesn’t feel like other art instruction hardbacks. The cover is warm and matty...
Realistic Abstracts, Kees Van Aalst – Book Review
This one is 160 pages long, but it’s one of those square shaped ones with smaller pages and a bit more white space so, content-wise, is probably...
Mastering Composition, Ian Roberts – Book Review
144 pages plus DVD. I thought I'd check out a book on composition and this book by Ian Roberts has been getting rave reviews for some time. So I...
Experimental Landscapes In Watercolour, Ann Blockley – Book Review
128 pages. This is a well-titled book. Any piece of artwork is an experiment. You never know how it's going to work out. Especially when you...
Learn To Paint People Quickly, Hazel Soan – Book Review
This book was 112 pages long but felt much shorter. Ah, maybe that's because it's A5 sized, meaning it's more like a 56 page long pamphlet that's...