The Watercolor Artist's Guide to Color

The purpose of this book is to help you navigate your way through all the siennas, umbers, phthalocyanines and dioxazines. It is not possible to explore all of the many paints that are in production, so I have made a selection of the most common paints found in art stores and those that I use most frequently in my painting. I have concentrated chiefly on the color of the paints, rather than any other qualities they may have, to allow you to step off on your voyage of color discovery. Personally, I use a fairly limited palette of around six paints and dip into others when necessary. I also often use ready-made secondary colors - oranges, greens and purples - but only as a starting point, adding whichever color I feel is required to change the tone according to my needs.The question "Do red and yellow always make orange?" has never been far from my mind in creating this book. Yes, they will create an orange when mixed, but that orange will be entirely dependent upon the particular red and yellow that you start with - is this the orange that you were looking for? Sometimes they will create the color you are seeking, but sometimes they won't. For this reason, I often start the color mixing process with a pre-mixed tube of orange paint and add other colors to it in small quantities until I have reached the desired result (stopping before I create a muddy brown instead of a dark orange). This will all be explored in the coming pages with examples and suggestions for you to try. These can only, however, be the solutions to the problems of color mixing that I personally have found. You will most certainly find others through experimentation and, maybe, a little risk taking with your paints.I have chosen easily sourced subjects as examples for you to paint in the comfort of your own home where the light is constant and the wind isn't blowing your paper across the landscape. You don't need a studio - a kitchen table will do nicely.I personally find the world of color both

Richard Taylor is an experienced and popular artist, who regularly teaches and lectures on all aspects of painting. He is the successful author of several books, including The Watercolourist's Year, Learn to Paint Buildings in Watercolour and Painting Houses and Gardens in Watercolour and was the Consultant and Contributor to The Art Course partwork. He writes for The Artist, Leisure Painter and Artists & Illustrators magazines and has also made several instructional painting videos.