Hazel Soan’s Watercolour Rainbow – Book Review

I lashed out on another book last week.  I don’t plan on turning this into a site that reviews books but I have to say this one is well worth the money.  The second half of the book is the best bit.  Here she goes through all the most popular Winsor & Newton colours (if you use Daniel Smiths you might want to wait for someone else to write a book on his colours), tells us whether they’re transparent/opaque/in between and cold/warm/hot and what are the pros and cons of each colour that you never hear anywhere else.  And she tells us about some good colour combinations.  And, finally, she puts forward a really strong case for having a palette that’s mainly made up of transparent colours and to only use the opaque very sparingly.  This will be a life changer for me.

I’m planning on revising my palette of colours later this year in readiness for the 16-pan, hand-made, Roberson-style brass paintbox that I’m hoping will appear on a future birthday or Christmas.  Watch this space for news.  But, in the meantime, if you’re a watercolour painter who uses W&N paints, you really should check out this book.