March 2018
Watercolour is a magical medium when used correctly, adding sparkle and life to your paintings. Here, Peter Cronin, takes you back to basics, learning the traditions of watercolour in its purest form, allowing the radiancy of the medium to shine through. Aimed at artists of all levels, Peter shares his 25 years at teaching experience with us, including step-by-step projects, inspirational paintings and forewords by watercolour experts, David Bellamy and David Curtis.
* The Leisure Painter *
What a pleasure this book is. The kind that makes you want to pick up your paints and create a painting. This book helps you to master traditional watercolour skills to create watercolours with atmosphere. This course in a book gives tips on painting both indoors and out, painting from photographs, sketching, washes and a lot more. There are 5 step-by-step projects to practise your skills. This 144 page book is longer than many on the subject. It is filled with wonderful examples of watercolour. Wonderful book.
* www.Yarnsandfabrics.co.uk *
February 2018
This beautiful celebration of the technical and creative capabilities of pure watercolour does the medium ample justice. Peter Cronin examines and demonstrates all the classic techniques - sketching, washes, wet-in-wet and drybrush - as well as the many ways of making mark. More importantly, he does this in a creative context, working towards a successful result rather than conducting exercises for their own sake. This is an inherently hands-on book; there is a strong sense of progression from techniques to outdoor work - something Peter is particularly keen on - and it would not be unreasonable to call this a masterclass, even though it remains thoroughly accessible at heart. Every page simply overflowers with useful information that is presented with admirable clarity. Peter is a master of his medium and it is a real privilege and pleasure to be able to work alongside him.
* The Artist *
As you might expect, Peter is a member of the Pure Watercolour Society and this is a hymn to the medium.. Forewords by David Curtis and David Bellamy should leave you in no doubt about how good it is.
My first question on opening the book was: what is pure watercolour and how does it differ from any other kind? Peter helpfully enlightens us: One may suspect that there is perhaps more to good painting than a huge toolkit, and it may be possible to take simple tools and use them well. This concept and approach to painting are at the heart of pure watercolour. Put kindly, I take that to mean that simplicity is always best and that you should work with your imagination and media rather than your tools; they're not what makes a painting, you do.
In the wrong hands, this could come across as a fundamentalist rant, but Peter lets his brushes do the talking and the work here is simply extraordinary. If he wasn't such a good explainer and demonstrator, you could easily be put off by his virtuosity. As it is, follow his advice carefully and you'll stand a very good chance of finishing this book a much better painter then when you started.
Watercolour is, as I think we all know, a very special medium. It's one that does sometimes seem to have a mind of its own and is nowhere near as controllable as the opaque ones. The skill is to work with that and to learn ways of encouraging it to do what you want rather than trying to wrestle it into submission and merely working against it. Handle a wash sensitively, know when colours are going to bleed and blend and large sections will almost complete themselves.
Peter explains much about the properties of watercolour and the techniques you'll need. He also demonstrates extensively and these paintings will show you how to produce some really quite advanced work.
It's a bit of a tour de force.
* Artbookreview.net *
