Creative Watercolor Painting Techniques

Creative Techniques books offer artists a hands-on introduction to popular mediums. Heavily-illustrated, step-by-step demonstrations cover a wide range of painting techniques. Each book includes work from various artists for inspiration.

A follow-up to Ana Victoria Calderon's Creative Watercolor, Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media combines watercolor with a whole new lineup of materials and depicts a variety of natural and mystical motifs.

Welcome to your watercolor happy place! The world of Danielle Donaldson is as wondrous as a jar full of fireflies. Her whimsical illustrations are known for their offbeat color combinations, artful arrangements and endearing quirkiness. In this book, you'll learn how to partner with the wonderfully spontaneous medium of watercolor to create your own brand of magic. Start by creating a handmade journal, then follow exercises and start-to-finish projects to fill it with illustrations that are small in size but big on color. Along the way, Danielle shares her fresh takes on color theory, perspective, composition and more. Designed to get your brush moving, this book makes practice feel like play. It's a one-of-a-kind journey for any artist wishing to tap into the utter joy of watercolor painting and make it a cherished part of your daily life. Inside you'll find: • Imaginative techniques that help you override perfectionist tendencies while making the most of watercolor's unpredictable nature • An inventive approach (using scraps of paper, ribbon and other ephemera) for more creative color choices • A simple strategy that makes drawing new subjects less intimidating and more fun • Sweet ways to add hand lettering to your artwork • Inspirational exercises that make finding subjects to paint as easy as A-B-C "Don't underestimate the giddiness you feel when you mindlessly grab a color and mix it with another and create the most beautiful wash ever!" --p43

Creative Watercolor offers beginners a fun, modern, and practical approach to a timeless medium with instructions on how to paint simple motifs and lettering and embellish projects beautifully. In Creative Watercolor, popular watercolor artist and workshop instructor Ana Victoria Calderon shares her step-by-step techniques for painting modern motifs in this classic medium. Through a series of easy tutorials and projects, you will: Get an overview of basic materials and tools, plus options for embellishing your paintings Master essential techniques, starting with easy warm-up activities, learning to layer, and getting into the flow with watercolor, plus an introduction to scanning and digital editing for making multiples Learn to paint a variety of simple, beautiful motifs: flowers and leaves, butterflies and critters, fruits and vegetables, and delightful lettering Use what you've learned to create unique, stylish stationery, including beautiful invitations, place cards, menus, monograms, recipe gift cards, thank you notes—any project you can imagine, for any kind of event you can think of! There's never been a better time to dive into the world of watercolor, so why wait? Grab a brush and get painting!

Build your creative toolbox! Perfect for the ambitious beginner with a bit of experience under their belt or seasoned painters in search of a fresh approach, Creative Watercolor Techniques is a vast repository of innovative and unusual painting methods that will help you achieve new levels of detail and texture in whichever style you prefer! Szabo's friendly and instructive prose will take you through a variety of wet and dry brush techniques, knife painting techniques, and paper types. In addition, you will find suggestions for creative ways to incorporate soap, salt, sand, starch, dyes, opaque watercolors, and sponges into your work. Loaded with hundreds of black and white photos, as well as over 30 full-color plates, Creative Watercolor Techniques will widen your artistic arsenal and inspire you to new levels of creativity and invention in your painting. Zoltan Szabo was born in Hungary in 1928 and studied at the National Academy of Industrial Art in Budapest. He emigrated to Canada in 1949, and made a name for himself as one of Canada's foremost landscape painters. In addition to teaching workshops and seminars on watercolor painting, Szabo has exhibited his work in London, Canada, and the United States. Zoltan Szabo's paintings are found in public and private collections worldwide, including those of the prime ministers of Canada and Jamaica and in the National Gallery of Hungary. Other books by Zoltan Szabo include Landscape Painting in Watercolor, Painting Little Landscapes, and Zoltan Szabo Paints Landscapes. Readers interested in related titles from Zoltan Szabo will also want to see: Landscape Painting in Watercolor (ISBN: 9781626549012), Painting Little Landscapes (ISBN: 9781626549173), Painting Nature's Hidden Treasures (ISBN: 9781626549180), Zoltan Szabo Paints Landscapes: Advanced Techniques in Watercolor (ISBN: 9781626549005).

Combat stress and anxiety and release your own inner creative with this beautiful mindful watercolour book. In this simple and vibrant guide, hugely popular Instagram muse @TerryRunyan explores the art of watercolour through the lens of mindfulness, presenting activities and projects which you can paint along with as you allow your creative side to flourish. This watercolour guide is easy and accessible for beginners, as Runyan gently delves into the basics of the artform, starting with simple techniques which you can follow along with, as well as presenting some fun projects ideas for painters to explore. Alongside beautiful examples of the techniques and styles explored in the book, Runyan also encourages readers to practice mindfulness as they paint, and explores the ways in which art can be used to help improve mental health. Exploring the idea of 'perfectly imperfect watercolours', Runyan places emphasis on self-expression and allowing yourself to make mistakes. Painting Happiness also includes fun projects for readers to try at home, including: Turning blobs into birds Creating wild hairstyles Experimenting with different prompts to paint at least one thing a day From technical skills and notes on materials to insight into the creative process, this book has everything you need to start flourishing in watercolour.

Discover the happiness benefits of putting brush to paper with a guide that puts judgment aside and “encourages simple enjoyment of painting” (Library Journal). Meditative, peaceful, and calming, watercolour painting offers a sense of control and self-worth to everyone, with no judgment or goal beyond the joy of painting itself. This book shows you how to calm and enhance your outlook through the movement of brush on paper. Master artist Jean Haines leads you through the journey, putting the emphasis on the joy of play rather than on pressure to perform or produce—and showing you how to wipe away your worries with the soothing, gentle strokes of watercolour paint. “Starting from the premise that everyone can paint, Haines frees readers of the goals and expectations of end results, and encourages simple enjoyment of painting. Open-ended, detailed exercises guide readers through experimenting with paint to gain a sense of control; to relieve stress; to escape; or to be in a better mood. The emotional and psychological properties of color are discussed as are obstacles to creativity and happiness. . . . [a] unique blend of self-care and expression.” —Library Journal

Intended for beginners, this book offers suggestions on equipment and techniques for creating different textures, and gives tips on how to actually see what is being painted.