Watercolour Landscapes, Richard Taylor – Book Review

At the time I bought this book I was only painting landscapes and my artwork was terrible.  It was so bad that I was loathe to spend money on books unless I could justify to myself that they provided good value for money.  Quality of the book was a lesser consideration.  I jumped at the chance to buy this one, which is a 368-page monster.

And, sorry Richard, this is one I regret buying.  First, I don’t like the artwork.  I find it all a bit flat, with not enough difference in tone between the foreground and background.  And the backgrounds leave empty spaces to be filled by foreground shapes.  With Hazel Soan holding the brush, the little bits of white in the gaps where the “colouring in” isn’t perfect can give a painting a real vibrancy.  But Richard’s artwork often looks like it’s been coloured in badly – the lack of tonal variation doesn’t help.  Second, I didn’t detect any passion behind the words.  Other authors have a “voice” that rings through loud and clear in their writing. This one might as well have been written by a dalek.  If I need a third reason, there’s his use of greens in his palette.

Not for me, this one.  One palette.