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| The Big Book of Painting Nature in Watercolor (Practical Art Books) | 
 enlarge | Creators: Ferdinand Petrie, John Shaw
Publisher: Watson-Guptill
Category: Book
List Price: $32.50
Buy New: $7.40
You Save: $25.10 (77%)
Buy New/Used from $7.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  (13 reviews)
Sales Rank: 145484
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.7
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0823004996
Dewey Decimal Number: 751.422436
EAN: 9780823004997
ASIN: 0823004996
Publication Date: May 1, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Here, in one paperback, are 135 self-contained lessons from three highly successful volumes by this artist-photographer team: The Watercolorist's Guide To Painting Water, The Watercolorist's Guide To Painting Trees, and The Watercolorist's Guide To Painting Skies.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Good in some ways, but a horrible use of paint May 24, 2008
This book is helpful in understanding how to develop a painting, but the author's color mixtures are surprisingly awful. Well over half the paintings in this book show us EXTREMELY dull and chalky skies and landscapes. The author appears to have no understanding that watercolor paints have different qualities--nonstaining, staining, and opaque. Mixing and glazing these colors without understanding these differences result in the mud paintings throughout most of this book. If you compare these paintings to other watercolor books, such as those by Dobie, Carbonnetti, Nechis, Speckman, and many others, you'll see a huge difference. Jim Kosvanec's "Transparent Watercolor Wheel" [this is a book, not just a color wheel] is extremely helful in bringing out the most in watercolor.
 Painting Nature in Watercolor August 23, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book provided step by step progessions and explanations that were easy to follow. Great for beginner or intermediate painter.
 Watercolor painting June 28, 2007
Great book for learing to paint. Good examples and explanations for techniques. I recommend it.
Watercolor Painting for the Beginning Artist April 24, 2005
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
By profession I am a scientist, but I have always had an interest in the visual arts. Only in the last few years have I had much time to devote to such endeavors and even then it has been rather catch as catch can. My main interest in art is in the capture of natural images (I took scientific illustration in college), but I appreciate the fact that art and stark realism may express somewhat different truths about the subject. As a rank amateur in watercolor art I also appreciate deeply such roadmap-like guide books as Ferdinand Petrie's "The Big Book of Painting Nature in Watercolor." At first the title turned me off, but in perusing a copy (and later acquiring it) I found it to be an excellent guide to capturing the essence of a natural scene in one of the most difficult of all media- watercolor (only pen and ink may be more demanding from my experience!)
The coupling of Petrie's step by step paintings and the exquisite photographs of John Shaw has produced a book that is both visually beautiful and informative. Using the techniques described and with one's own reference photos in hand (or under an open sky direct from nature) a novice painter can slowly gain the knowledge and skill necessary to succeed in producing credible paintings.
A while back a scientist colleague of mine asked me why make a painting or drawing when you can photograph any subject with clarity. As a person who takes my own reference photos and enjoys doing so I can say he has a point, but reality does not necessarily come only from an exact replication of a scene. In the process of painting from nature (or from a reference photograph) you often notice more complex details, even in apparently simple subjects, then you would ordinarily notice in a photograph by itself. Petrie has emphasized the observation of these complex details and their interpretation in watercolor. If nothing else the instructions that point the artist toward this close observation of complexity in nature are worth the price of the book.
Good variety and information for various angles January 23, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is one to read through to learn -- not just do the practice paintings. Being a newbie to watercolor, this book has really helped me to view nature through a different set of eyes. He helps you see the "what do I want this picture to focus on" instead of microdetailing every possible detail in view. I am now finding myself looking at nature figuring out the details and what would I want to paint as the focus. I think this book goes very well with Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Watercolor by Marian Appellof -- good pair with minimal redundancy.
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