Outdoors in Watercolour

Rating:
Summary: Alwyn Crawshaw's techniques simplify your paintings
Review: I admire Mr. Crawshaw's techniques in many ways; he gives you methods to simplify how you paint people, boats and animals. He's known as an equestrian painter, so it's a bit disappointing that there isn't more in this book about painting horses (perhaps he's leaving that for a separate volume.) I also find Crawshaw's palette a bit dull--he goes for the natural look of muted greens and browns and blues--very realistic but not as exciting as the bright tropical colors that are now more in vogue in painting. This is in the true English tradition of watercolor. Nevertheless, I find that I've learned more by doing Crawshaw's exercises for painting things like trees and sheep than from many other books or videos. To rate this book; visually--it's not so exciting. Technique-wise, if you try out some of these techniques, your brushwork for certain details and compositions will become simpler and less worked-over. Recommended for that reason.