Watercolour Fruit & Vegetable Portraits is a comprehensive resource for all artists. Billy Showell provides how-to instruction addressing the colors, shapes, textures, and patterns observed in fruits and vegetables. This book is for anyone who has ever wanted to paint the fruit and vegetables in their home garden.
Right from the start, Billy teaches readers how to observe patterns and how to think about the placement of various botanical elements. In her discussion of the drawing process, she does away with drawing’s “mythical status” and ensures readers that everyone is capable of learning how to draw. Billy takes the anxiety out of composition and patiently offers detailed instruction on how to mix browns, greens and dark washes. In a 4-page section that all painters will appreciate, Billy shares color combinations that will enable readers to mix the unique colors of 28 fruits and vegetables.
Demonstrations of ten essential watercolor techniques are presented. Techniques include wet-into-wet, color blending, color lifting, and dry brush. There are also demonstrations of how to glaze over shadows, how to use lifting preparation, how to scratch out highlights, how to use masking fluid to create the illusion of a shiny surface, and how to apply layers of paint to achieve color strengthening. Readers are also shown how to create highlights and shadows.
Several technique tips and small projects are presented in this book. Tips and projects include:
- How to paint white vegetables
- How to paint flowers and the veins on petals
- How to paint patterns and highlights on sweet corn
- How to paint patterns found on zucchini
- How to capture the texture of artichoke bracts
- How to create and apply the appropriate colors when painting black bean pods
- How to paint corn husks
- How to paint the changing colors of an asparagus stalk
- How to paint roots
- How to paint small fruit
The last four projects in the book are detailed step-by-step tutorials about how to paint kohlrabi, pumpkins, lemons, and assorted berries. Tutorials range in length from 42 to 59 steps.
Watercolour Fruit & Vegetable Portraits by Billy Showell contains many practical tips, step-by-step tutorials, and examples of finished studies. Throughout Billy discusses mistakes often made by artists and provides solutions along the way. Billy’s thorough approach ensures that even the most timid watercolorist will feel at ease applying what they learn from this comprehensive resource.
This book will be released in the U.S. in mid-April 2009 and will be available at ArtPlantae Books. You can pre-order this book here.
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