Watercolor Book Recommendations

[ColorEnthusiast]

The most valuable watercolor instruction books I found by recommendations in internet forums.

So I start this thread now as a information thread about watercolor books and I hope you join in and write about the best books you found and maybe the reason why you chose them or the level of experience they require. And maybe some readers will find useful books for them here.
The best books I have found so far are:

The Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook Landscapes by Gordon MacKenzie
He describes a wide range of different techniques so well that you can easily apply them.
And he shows situations in landscape paintings where you can use these techniques to get the right textures.
A book good for beginners and experienced painters who want to learn about new techniques and useful tools.

Watercolor techniques by Michael Reardon
Less techniques, more about composing landscape paintings and successful color combinations.
Several interesting step by step demos.
Not for beginners, but for watercolorists who want to progress in landscape painting.

How to make a Watercolor Paint Itself by Nita Engle
A very different approach for brave painters with surprising and extraordinary results.
She starts with free floating color and fortuitousness, this needs a lot of practicing to get the painting in the way you want it to go or creativity when you follow chance and create something out of chaos, what she also sometimes does. Not for beginners.

 

[Artyczar]

I just look through Watercolor Artist magazine a lot.

 

[Hawkmoth]

For absolute beginners: When I was a total beginner (no art training at all) I found learner project books very useful (the Trace and Paint kind). Outline tracings are provided so you can work through the tutorial projects step by step, and produce surprisingly decent paintings. I learned a lot of technique from those guided projects, and produced much better paintings than I was doing on my own (which was good for morale!!) Obviously you soon want to stop copying and move on to develop your own style, but they are great for those just starting out.

I've got several books (flowers, Street Scenes, Landscapes). The 'Ready to Paint in 30 minutes' series is good because it's good value for money - you get LOTS of very small, simple projects, which are easy to complete in an hour or so. Great for practicing and building confidence.

I've been painting a few years now and don't need step-by-step guidance anymore, but I still occasionally pull out a book and do a project, just because I enjoy them.

The most valuable watercolor instruction books I found by recommendations in internet forums.

So I start this thread now as a information thread about watercolor books and I hope you join in and write about the best books you found and maybe the reason why you chose them or the level of experience they require. And maybe some readers will find useful books for them here.
The best books I have found so far are:

The Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook Landscapes by Gordon MacKenzie
He describes a wide range of different techniques so well that you can easily apply them.
And he shows situations in landscape paintings where you can use these techniques to get the right textures.
A book good for beginners and experienced painters who want to learn about new techniques and useful tools.

Watercolor techniques by Michael Reardon
Less techniques, more about composing landscape paintings and successful color combinations.
Several interesting step by step demos.
Not for beginners, but for watercolorists who want to progress in landscape painting.

How to make a Watercolor Paint Itself by Nita Engle
A very different approach for brave painters with surprising and extraordinary results.
She starts with free floating color and fortuitousness, this needs a lot of practicing to get the painting in the way you want it to go or creativity when you follow chance and create something out of chaos, what she also sometimes does. Not for beginners.

I will check these out immediately. I love art books, and these sound right up my street!! Plus, there's still time to add them to my Christmas list!!
Thanks for the recommendations, and especially for including a bit of info about each one. Very helpful.

 

[pcj]

This is a terrific book . It was written for water colour but it is just as good for
other media. It vastly improved my oil painting !

'MAKING COLOR SING'
by Jeanne Dobie

Cheers,
Patricia

 

[ColorEnthusiast]

I will check it out