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Watercolor Artist's Guide to Exceptional Color ReviewJan Hart's book, The Watercolor Artist's Guide to Exceptional Color, is such an attractive and useful book. Beginners, as well as experienced painters, will be excited to have it in their hands. Ms. Hart gives much practical information for the beginning watercolorist as well as for those who have been painting for some time.
But like all instruction books, it has its good points and its not-so-good points. Its strong points far outweigh its weaker points. While I recommend it very enthusiastically,
I would not use the superlatives that other reviewers have used ~ calling it the "bible"of watercolor, or "fabulous", or saying there's no need to read anything else! Such extremes and generalities always make me a little suspicious. They do not help me at all. The kind of reviews that I do find helpful are those that tell me WHY the reviewer feels the way he or she does. A review is also helpful if it tells, even in a general way, what I can expect to find in a book. That's what I propose to do here.
After a brief, general introduction, there's a section explaining the composition of paints, what they are made of. The author gives a fine explanation of the technical data on watercolor labels. She groups colors in general categories of the primaries: reds, yellows, blues; the secondaries: oranges, greens, purples; and a stand-alone group, the magentas. The practical application of this material is shown in three close-up demonstration paintings. This is followed by a brief treatment of basic mixing, again with practical suggestions for exercises that will enable the reader to learn from his or her own experience. Then color theory is approached through examination of the color wheel.
After this introductory material, the book is organized in three large sections. The publisher has not made it possible to look inside this book on line. So I will list for you here the topics covered in each section. They are enticing.
Section 1, Pigment Properties
Pigment properties gallery, Transparent non staining paints, Permanent staining pigments, Sedimentary and opaque paints, Granulation, Wet-into-wet pigment actions, Underpainting, Glazing
Section 2, Pigment Aesthetics
Pigment aesthetics gallery, Comparing color schemes, Primary palette, Six-color palette, Analogous color palette, Complementary palette, Split-complement palette, Tetradic color scheme, Tertiary colors, The Velazquez palette, High and low color key, Color value, Color temperature, Neutrals
Section 3, Choosing Pigments for Painting
Choosing and using a color scheme in a painting, Light, shade and shadow, Backgrounds, Skies and clouds, Waterscapes, Buildings, Flowers and plants, Animals, Landscapes and trees, Portraits and figures.
The book closes with a brief but practical treatment of the different types of paints, brushes, papers and other equipment. Then the author gives an engaging account of new developments. Finally, there's an excellent Index and a page of credits, 128 pages in all.
The following are among the book's many strong points:
1) It has a very clear and logical layout with beautifully inviting color on every page.
2) Each topic within the three large sections of the book has a small list called, "Some things to consider." I find such key observations and suggestions so helpful. They focus on the more important points that have been treated in the topic at hand. And they often clarify something that I did not readily grasp in the text.
3) One of the most valuable features of Ms. Hart's book is that it reproduces not only her own works, but also those of many other artists. This provides the reader with a broad perspective of many possible styles and approaches to the watercolor medium. It's a delight just to page through the book and study the richness of the varied possible ways of painting in watercolor.
4) There are many step-by-step demonstrations. Most of these are made up of a photograph followed by three stages of the painting ~ first, a broad wash or two with a few structural details only hinted at; second, greater definition worked into or over the original wash; and third, the finished painting with final details. This system of demonstration shows so well how photographs serve best as mere references, rather than as critically demanding models.
5) The book deals with just about any kind of subject matter you can imagine: landscapes in varied seasons and weather conditions, climates and terrain; animals; florals and plant life; urban and rural buildings; cityscapes; seascapes and other natural forms of water; skyscapes; still lifes; portraits and figures.
6) The author's free use of color demonstrates so well that it is not necessary to paint a subject strictly in its natural hues.
For example, one demo shows the same cat in the same pose painted in nine different color schemes (one for each of the cat's nine lives?). Each is convincing. Each has its own "feel" or mood.
There are occasional small errors in the text. But the intended meaning is usually clarified by context. For example, on page 8, sample spots of two colors are given with the caption, "Inorganic pigments, cobalt blue and cobalt violet". In the text just to the right of these samples, they are referred to as "organic": "Synthetic organics include cobalt blue, cobalt violet..." (italic emphasis mine).
I was a little disappointed in the glossary given on page 7 under the heading "Key Terminology". It lists thirty-five terms, but defines only eight of them at this site. For definitions of the remaining twenty-seven terms, the reader is referred to later pages. It would have been more convenient if a single page had been devoted to all these definitions. That way, when the reader encounters an unknown term later in the text, he or she would have only one place to go for a definition ~ as in most books that use a glossary. Moreover, I like to take the time to study a glossary like this one and become familiar with all the key terms before moving on into the text.
In the upper right corner of page 14, there are two diagrams illustrating the subtractive and additive color mixing systems. Their center dots are misplaced. As the text explains, mixing the three light primaries in the additive system results in white, not black shown by the diagram. Mixing the three pigment primaries in the subtractive system results in black (or gray), not white shown by the diagram. This same type of illustration is given at the bottom left corner of p. 49. There the centers are correctly given, white as the result of mixing light primaries, black as the result of mixing pigment primaries.
On page 15, the author shows the reader what she considers a basic palette of twelve colors. If you do not already have the colors of her wheel, you can refer to the corresponding twelve groups at the bottom of the page and substitute any color from them. None of the earth colors are treated here.
They are saved for a later section.
There are eighty-five colors listed on p. 15, so there's a good chance you already have some that you can substitute for those given in the author's color wheel; you don't have to go out and buy a new tube in order to have a workable palette with precisely the colors Ms. Hart uses in her wheel. For example, if you already have hansa yellow, it will do in place of the azo yello on her wheel. If you already have cobalt green, you can substitute it for phthalo turquoise.
Notice that each one of the twelve lists is headed by the color given in the author's color wheel. (One of the colors is duplicated in the blue-violet list # 7 under two different spellings, indanthrone blue and indanthrine blue. On page 71, it goes by another spelling: indanthrene blue.)
I studied this list rather carefully so I could watch for the way the colors are used in the rest of the book. As I continued into into the book and first noticed a couple of colors that I did not remember from the lists on p. 15,
I started keeping track. After tabulating all the colors in the book, I found that there are ninety-six new colors that had not been mentioned in the lists on p. 15. The advantage of this is that the readers can see the nearly infinite possibilities of all those colors without having to test them all for themselves. Think of the cost it saves you! There are about 160 colors represented in the entire book. If you bought one of each at the bargain price of $10. each, you'd spend $1,600 !
Ms. Hart's pages on "Landscapes and trees", pp. 106--109,
are superbly practical for people who have trouble mixing convincing greens for summer foliage and the warmer colors for fall foliage. It's one of the best treatments I've found in all my watercolor library of more than a hundred books.
The author's closing pages on Daniel Smith's relatively new Prima-Tek colors are exciting. When I first saw the ads for
these colors, I felt that they were probably mere novelties.
But Ms. Hart shows just how effective and beautiful they can be. Most of them are wonderfully granulating. (If you're not sure whether you like that quality, I recommend studying the work of Robert Lovett in his book, "The Art of Designing Watercolors", published by International Artist in 2002. Granulation seems to be a favored feature of his paintings. To my eye, they are exquisitely beautiful.) I'm tempted to say that Hart's several pages on landscapes and trees, and on the Prima-Tek colors, are alone worth the price of the book. But instead, I'll just say that the price of the book is very well worth everything it has to offer. Don't miss it!
Chris Uehlein
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