Archive for category Author: Elizabeth Groves
Exploring Watercolour || Elizabeth Groves
Posted by henry in Author: Elizabeth Groves, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Techniques on November 6, 2007
This is as good a grounding in the methods and techniques of watercolour as you’re going to get. I think it’s fair to say that it’s also not written for the complete beginner; the finished paintings are more complex than a complete tyro would expect, but the upside is that Elizabeth takes her readers seriously and couldn’t be accused of talking down to them.
The one-page introduction sets out a stall that comes across as a bit solemn and worthy, establishing artistic and almost philosophical aims (she quotes from Marcel Proust and Anatole France) that might be pretentious if it weren’t for the quality of what follows.
The substance of the book is a natural progression through brushstrokes, analysis of colour, texture and materials and also looking at glazing, composition, drybrush – in fact most of the techniques you’d expect to find in a watercolourists’s armoury. Subjects are for the most part flowers and landscapes, with the odd still life thrown in. This is slightly limiting, but in any book you have to go with what the author is best at and things often fall down when authors try to work outside their main area of expertise. This isn’t a criticism as such but if these, albeit popular, subjects aren’t your bag then you might feel you’re getting a bit less than you want. Am I niggling? Frankly, yes, but that’s my job. Sorry.
Overall, this is an attractive production and well thought-out. There’s a strong sense that Elizabeth has a case to make, a story to tell and nowhere does she come across as stuck for ideas and just filling the blank pages. It’s a book for the enthusiast, the lover of watercolour who will, I’d say, gain a lot from it. Does the spiral binding add anything? I think not. This isn’t a book you’re necessarily going to want to have open beside the easel. If it hiked the price, I’d deduct points, but £18.99 is about what you pay for a hardback art book these days, so let’s say it doesn’t make any difference and call it even.
North Light 2007
£18.99
