Ray Campbell Smith is an experienced and respected teacher as well as being one of the best watercolour technicians there is.
This is a slowly-developing series from Search Press that they’re so far resisting the temptation to stuff with every Tom, Dick and Harry who’ll put brush and pen to paper. It’s been a while since the first volume appeared and this second one is certainly worth the wait – when Ray offers you 85 pearls of wisdom, you’d certainly better sit up and take notice! And he doesn’t disappoint. Reading the contents list, you could be forgiven for thinking that the usual suspects (composition, use of colour, perspective. skies, foregrounds, etc, etc) are all here, and so they are, but seen from the unique perspective of a man who paints the best water and the best skies in the business, bar none.
Ray can do more in a simple sketch than many artists can in a multi-page demonstration and this pocket-size guide is far larger in scope than its format. Ray will show you how to use colour and shading to give objects shape and to suggest perspective as well as to balance composition. The truth is that there’s a veritable masterclass in here positively elbowing its way out.
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