Creative Discoveries in Watermedia

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Summary: This book breaks through creative blocks!
Review: I ordered this book without seeing it. The customer reviews that summarize Dews' freedom and enjoyment of painting are true. She writes wonderfully and explains perfectly. When I received the book, I read all of it. She has more fun and coaxes her readers to jump up and run to the paint and, on the way, grab anything that doesn't move to add to the experience. A real fresh look at enjoying art.

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Summary: Explore Experimental Mixed Media and Collage Painting
Review: I've been a realist painter all of my life yet I've always enjoyed experimental and non-realist paintings. I'd even made several attempts to make my own experimental paintings yet ended up throwing them away in disgust since they showed that I didn't really know what I was doing. I was at a loss and wondering how people make abstract and experimental paintings at all.

Then I found this book and what a big difference it has made. The paintings in it are beautiful and made me want to try experimental painting again. I was SO thankful Ms. Dews breaks down her approach step-by-step with photos for each stage. So, for example, you read something like, "In this section I demonstrate some of the techniques I use in my paintings. They are simple to follow. As you practice these techniques, you will not only learn about the various techniques, you learn about the color, paper and how to use various tools." That chapter then procedes to do exactly that. Photos and explanations abound of techniques for texturing, shaping, coloring, various paper surfaces, etc and how each contributes to particular effect.

I appreciated especially the chapter on how to cultivate new ideas for your next painting. I also enjoyed the chapter finishing up by showing step-by-step how two artists can interpret the same subject. A photo of an iris was used for the demonstrations and Ms. Dews' result was an abstracted background with a more realist flower as the focal point. The other guest artist had a completely experimental, abstracted painting. I would've never known the original subject was a flower had I not been able to follow her painting from start to finish.

Two other chapters that really helped me a lot were the ones on viewing, cropping and collage. Ms. Dews is not afraid to crop her paintings if one area is working well but the rest of the painting is not. Alternately, sometimes she uses collage to rescue an area or painting that isn't working out. I wish I'd known about this on my first attempts. Had I thought to do these things I may have not thrown my paintings away, just cropped or collaged the disappointing sections.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone curious about trying a more experimental approach to painting. It has tons of mini-demonstrations, full painting demonstrations, discussions on using a wide variety of tools, surfaces, stencils, collage papers, mediums, etc. and techniques. It's got a lot of photos so you can see as well as read what the author is doing. Overall, it's a good reference to get started painting more freely.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful teaching guide for unique watercolor techniques!
Review: We are so lucky that a talented artist like Pat Dews reveals her painting techniques to everyone. A beautifully put together book with great action photos and easy to follow directions. I especially love the painting for keemakoo. Highly recommend!!