Archive for category Author: William Newton
Watercolour Painting Step-by-Step || Jackie Barrass, Richard Bolton, Ray Campbell Smith, Frank Halliday, William Newton, Wendy Tait, Bryan A Thatcher
This is a reissue of an earlier compilation, which I was convinced I had reviewed before, but don’t seem to have. It originated as a bind-up of Search press’s Leisure Arts series and makes available lessons from what was a very serviceable series from quite a long time ago.
Although I had reservations about the reproduction in its acrylic counterpart, and some of it here isn’t quite up to modern standards, it’s not too bad and not quite the stumbling block I found it in the other volume. At a shade under £10, it’s enormously good value and I think you could overlook any shortcomings simply in favour of the wealth and variety of material you get for your money.
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Learn to Paint in Watercolour Step by Step || William Newton
Posted by Henry in Author: William Newton, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Techniques on Mar 31, 2017
This isn’t, as far as I can tell, a re-working, just a reissue with a new title of a book which first appeared in 2013 as William Newton’s Complete Guide to Painting. To the credit of Search Press, I got that information from the copyright page.
I don’t normally review reissues, but this is so good, and has stood the test of time so well, that I will at least give it a mention. It’s a classic guide to classic watercolour and well worth a read. You can see what I said originally here.
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William Newton’s Complete Guide to Watercolour Painting
Posted by Henry in Author: William Newton, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Boats, Subject: Boats & Harbours, Subject: Buildings, Subject: Landscape, Subject: Seascape, Subject: Techniques on Oct 17, 2013
There’s an immediate sense of variety in this admirably comprehensive book that really does live up to its claim to be complete. In something such as this, the introduction to materials and techniques clearly has a place and it’s rightly more extensive than the cursory notes we could usually all probably do without. William is particularly good on the uses and handling of colour and tone as well as core techniques such as wet-in-wet. Although the beginner might feel the need for something more basic at this stage, as long as you’ve got the hang of how to use your materials, you’ll find it easy to pick up from where this starts.
William has a simple, relaxed and open style that relies on transparent colours, the use of washes and a constant sense of light that makes for easy and comfortable viewing that is immediately encouraging. The range of subjects is wide and includes landscapes, buildings, boats and people, and there’s also an extensive series of demonstrations that put the basic lessons of the introductory section into practice.
Because of its simplicity, the clarity of the instructions and the quality of the execution, I’d say this is the best work of its kind that I’ve seen.
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