Book Description
Features a selection of art from America's best contemporary watercolor painters Offers clear, practical advice on how to apply a specific technique from each painting to the reader's own art Paintings focus on all varieties of subjects including street scenes, landscapes, animals and people
Splash 9: Tips and Techniques offers readers insight into the minds and working methods of some of the best contemporary painters through more than 100 paintings, each with its own lesson. Featuring tips on techniques including light, color, composition and brush application, this book provides an intimate look at the styles of successful artists. With all this and more, this is one book that will make a splash among painters!
Customer Reviews:
Splash 9.......2007-09-24
High quality reproductions. Excellent book for artists to see the techniques that others are using. Also the quality that would allow you to set it out for others to enjoy.
Inspiring.......2007-09-21
I have the whole series, which is the only reason that it was not 5 stars.
I have an earlier favorite. But this one is great in that you get to read the artists' thoughts on why or how. I've always been interested in what inspires other artists. This one gives me/us that.
Splash - Time for a Change.......2006-12-28
If you like your watercolors with lots of intricate details and reflections in crystal, you'll like this latest Splash. If you're looking for something different, experimental and creative, don't bother. I have the entire series, and I'm thinking of reselling this one. (I won't be purchasing any future editions without checking them closely first.) The Splash series was quite cutting edge in the early years, striving to showcase the new trends. But it hasn't kept up. Now it just feels like a profit center for North Light.
Of 130 pages, only 12 pages (the shortest chapter) is devoted to experimental watermedia. And even then, one painting includes reflections in crystal (just so you don't stray too far...)
Publishers, it's time for a change. We need a new series for the 21st Century (edited by Betsy Dillard Stroud or Nita Leland?) devoted to the exciting trends in watermedia, mixed media, collage, monotypes, and digital hybrid art.
Almost ...but not quite.......2006-09-09
With this ninth book in the remarkable Splash series I was rather disappointed. To me the strength of the previous eight books has been the remarkable diversity of painting styles. Even though each had a rather loose theme you could turn the pages and not really know what to expect apart from the fact that every picture was a watercolor. So many of the paintings just make you stop and look and look and frequently wonder how an artist achieved that painting. Luckily part of the editorial format in each book allowed artists to reveal their creative thoughts or techniques in words next to the picture.
All of this is true of book nine but I just didn't feel it had the excitement of the other books. Many of the paintings seem rather casual, the range of subject matter and composition perhaps too ordinary, safe and predictable and plenty seem to have sombre dominant colors, like the front cover for instance. Essentially I think that I've seen better versions of so many of these paintings in the previous eight titles.
Still there is plenty to enjoy though. Three from Laurin McCracken caught my eye, she likes to make things difficult by creating still life compositions with crystal glass and silverware. Equally interesting is how she works: with a digital camera and pc to improve the composition even before lifting a brush. Paul Sullivan creates some almost photo-realist paintings of everyday scenes from Milan, Rome and Sienna. His exterior detail of a church in Milan is amazing. Diane Maxey does wonders with flowers, so much so that her Poppy Parade looks just like an oil painting.
I've just looked through Splash 1/America's Best Contemporary Watercolors, which came out in 1991 and what an amazing start to the series and it does rather overpower this latest book. I'm hoping book ten will continue the magic so evident in the previous eight books.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
Splash 9.......2006-08-27
I have loved collecting the Splash series. I enjoy looking at them over and over. The books are a great place to see what others are doing, use for inspiration, and sometimes to help solve a problem with something you are working on.
Customer Reviews:
A kick-start for watercolor artists!.......1998-08-23
This book is a celebration of color and the watercolor medium. Turning the pages is like watching a fabulous fireworks display. Each page reveals another explosion of beautiful color painting. Like fireworks, some paintings go off with a huge bang, and others are more muted; but each painting has something to say -- there are no "duds." Helpful comments by the artists give insight as to how and why each painting was done. If you're an artist looking for inspiration, this book can really give you a whack in the side of the head that will send you running to your paints. Even if you're not an artist, you'll enjoy the gorgeous colors and wide, wild variety of subjects and techniques. An astonishing book and well worth the price.
Average customer rating:
- Aren't all Cadium Reds alike?
- Invaluable reference--buy before you buy paint!
- The least favorite book of my collection
- valuable resource
- outdated poor quality book, dont waste your money
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The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints (Information to the Artist)
Michael Wilcox
Manufacturer: North Light Books
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ASIN: 0891344098 |
Book Description
This is a landmark book for artists.
This edition catalogues the changes in watercoloor paint manfufacturing since the first edition in 1991 and 1995. Ten new companies have been featured, bringing the total to 29. The information in this book enables the caring artist to buy their expensive materials with confidence. The 'bible' to many and a must for the concerned artist.
Customer Reviews:
Aren't all Cadium Reds alike?.......2007-02-19
It is amazing how different the colors are look and behave. Confused by the labeling PB42 or Hue or ASTM I? Why does the same labelings (i.e. PR108) appear on multiple colors? What do those weird names really represent? It makes for interesting reading - the history, the best, and the worst products. I always wondered why some of my watercolors looked grainy. Not all colors by the best manufacturer rate highly. This book looks like a lifelong effort that will save your experimenting forever to find a good Cadium Red color, a member of one of the 10 major color groupings covered.
Invaluable reference--buy before you buy paint!.......2006-05-26
If you spend hours or days painting a watercolor picture, you are going to want to use the best possible paints. You won't want to see your painting fade, become blotchy, or otherwise deteriorate due to inferior paint. To prevent just that sort of thing, this reference book attempts to educate you on the pigments used in watercolor paints--their lightfastness especially, but also other qualities. Which pigments will fade or become blotchy over time? Which will stay strong and true? This book does its best to exhaustively answer those questions.
This book has been updated several times. It is due for another update, but since there is no telling when or even if such an update will be produced, it is still so valuable that I highly recommend getting it now before you buy any (more) watercolor paints.
Although I am reading it all the way through (because that's the kind of person I am), this is not a book to be read, but rather referred to. Let's say, for example, that you want to replace a red you've been using. You would turn to the description of the red pigments, glance through to find the pigments that have been rated highly lightfast by the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Measurement) and that have the color quality you want, then you would turn to the paint reference section to see what brands offer a red using the chosen pigment(s). Even if you cannot find a brand that suits you (and you should be able to), armed with the information in this book, you can go shopping with confidence, checking the paint tubes to make sure they have the pigment you want and not some pigment that will fade and ruin your painting.
For that alone, this book is valuable.
Allow me to address some of the comments other reviewers have made. One reviewer commented that the Da Vinci paints are student grade. I disagree. I've tried a number of different brands, and Da Vinci's artist-grade paints are wonderful--buttery, smooth, and a pleasure to use. (I also like many of Windsor & Newton's paints.) Yes, Michael Wilcox contracted with Da Vinci to create his own custom line of paints, but, as he states in the latest edition of this book, he did that many years after the initial editions in which he had already praised and recommended many of Da Vincis's paints. And he doesn't hold back in criticizing many of the Da Vinci student-grade paints, nor does he hold back in praising or criticizing any brand of paint.
I believe that Mr. Wilcox has tried to be as objective as possible, and I also do *not* see any inappropriate pushing of his own line of paints. He has a single very low-key page--at the back of the book!--describing the Michael Wilcox School of Color, which lets you be the judge of whether you want to look into it more. I also haven't seen any advertisements of his line of paints in the book yet, and, as I said, I'm reading it cover to cover. (I'm in the reds at the moment, though, so I could be wrong, but if the remaining pages follow the pattern already established, I don't expect to see any such advertisement in the remaining pages.)
Another reviewer said that this book has out-of-date paints (it does) and *doesn't* reflect reformulations (but it does). Had they read the book (though perhaps they had an older edition), they would have found Mr. Wilcox's reasons for including discontinued paints. He states that some people may have those older paints still in their supplies, and so he wanted to present that information for those people. If you are a watercolor artist, you know how long paints last. I have tubes I purchased ten years ago. I know artists who have tubes they purchased even longer ago. How valuable it is to be able to read what is in those paints, and possibly avoid using something that will, in the end, disappoint!
He also provides information on old formulas, with an arrow pointing to a new entry on the reformulated paint. Again, including information on both the old and new formulations is valuable. If you are an artist with the old formulation in your supplies, you will want to know that (A) it is perhaps unsuitable and (B) there is a better replacement available for it. Yes, it is possible that there have been even further reformulations since the last edition, but each edition has been keeping up with the times, and I fully expect that, should Mr. Wilcox produce another edition, it will be as up-to-date as possible.
The one valid criticism of this book is that it could be better organized and better edited. DEFINITELY. There are missing words, grammatical errors, punctuation errors, dead-end sentences, orphan sentences, sentence fragments, and so on pretty much on every page. The organization of the material could also be better, and more information on both his testing methods and on the ASTM standards would be greatly appreciated. Mr. Wilcox should perhaps be told that there are copy editors he can hire on a contract basis to copy-edit his works and improve them vastly. Better yet, a developmental editor, who will be more expensive but also more valuable, could help with the organization and content as well.
An alphabetical index of at least all the colors would be great too. A professional indexer could create such.
These are the reasons I gave this book four stars instead of five are (A) the age of the book, (B) the errors, and (C) the need to better organize and expand the content, especially the information on testing standards and methods.
However, flaws aside, this is an enormous work, enormously valuable, with clearly hundreds if not thousands of hours of work put into it, and the information shows that effort.
It should also be mentioned that, before Michael Wilcox published the first edition of this book, whether you would get good paints from even some of the major manufacturers was a hit-or-miss proposition. Many non-lightfast pigments were used, and poor quality paints were created, even by the giants. When this book hit the scene, it had a great deal of positive influence on the watercolor manufacturers. Many of them dropped or reformulated their more questionable paints. That in itself tells you the value of the information in this book. Of course, the ASTM had a lot to do with it too, but without this book pointing out the lack of clothes on the emperor, I am not sure how much weight the ASTM standards alone would have had.
If you are a watercolor artist, do yourself the favor of adding this book to your reference library.
The least favorite book of my collection.......2004-04-15
Inaccurate information abounds. Tiresome reading. Little good information. Overly expensive...sorry I bought it.
valuable resource.......2004-03-26
This exhaustive (not to be confused with exhausting) research-based volume should be mandatory reading for all those artists interested in giving their customers their utmost quality of paint on works of art sold. So many paints are not light-fast, or are 'fugitive' (absolutely unreliable), or are packaged by the manufacturer as 'new' colors when they are, in fact, only creative blends of basic colors that any artist can create with colors they likely already have. This book, covering many of the watercolor paint producers in the Western world, exposes these flawed paints, but also gives credit where due to the top-notch pigments and their manufacturers. Details of content, health ratings, color-fastness and quality of brush use are easily understood. Fantastic color swatches (before and after exposure to light) are beside each manufacturer's sample. My only complaint is that this is the only edition available (pub. 1991), as the author said it would be updated periodically, which does not yet appear to have happened. There were only a couple of Quinacridone colors 12 years ago at the time of publication, whereas there are many more now.
outdated poor quality book, dont waste your money.......2003-02-20
a poor quality book, badly written and full of mistakes. wilcox is clearly a charlaton, he rants on about other paints being poor quality whilst trying to sell you his own.
I do not recomend this book to anyone.
buy it at your peril
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful and Inspiring.......2001-12-12
One of the things I do when I looking for ideas for new paintings is to look through this book. I also go for walks, take photographs and go to museums and galleries but when those options are unavailable or inconvenient books like the "Best Of" series are a great help.
This book contains works in more than just 'pure watercolor'. Many of the most beautiful works are mixed media. The common denominator being that an aqueous media has to be the dominant element in the painting. Thus there are works in gouache, acrylic, pen and ink with watercolor, gold leaf, watercolor pencils, water-soluable pastels...basically anything that can be used with water. An added extra is that many of the paintings list what surface was used. Books like these are always a great pleasure and inspiration to look through.
Spectacualr watercolor showcase, sure to inspire.......2001-06-12
This showcase book is packed with spectacular watercolor art with a wide variety of subject and style, including people, nature, still-life and abstract. It is delight to leaf through and a great source of inspiration.
Some of my favorite pieces include a beautiful lily pond landscape by David Lee and a portrait of a woman by Paul McCormack. I also liked two different collage style pieces fish and fishing poles by Patricia Scott and another with shells, birds and writing by Judy Hoiness. I enjoyed a colorful abstract by Margaret Manter and a still life of melons by Sue Archer.
Caption information includes artist, title, size, paper used and sometimes medium notes. Artist addresses and a brief note about the judges are included in the back. This book makes a great gift for the watercolor artist or enthusiast.
A beautiful collection of award-winning works........1998-02-06
Both the Best of Watercolor and the Best of Watercolor 2 are filled with a wonderful assortment of beautiful work by current, award-winning watercolorists. The techniques and subject matter are varied, and give the reader a terrific selection of truly fine work.
Customer Reviews:
Another fine addition to the "Best of Watercolor" series.......1999-06-14
This is another impressive collection of superb watercolors. The editor has consistently gathered together quality, well-crafted paintings in all of the "Best of Watercolor" series books. It is not only a useful tool for the artist who is trying to work on the area of composition, but is also simply a beautiful collection of watercolors, which are diverse, rich, and a joy to view.
Grat work by both regional and national watercolor artists-e.......1998-12-06
Great work by both regional and national watercolor artists. I especially liked the overview it offers of watercolor-related techniques and media that are sometimes used by the artists embellish otherwise traditional watercolor compositions. Subjects range from the abstract to the realistic and offer many ideas to help the artist (or the art appreciator) see the variety of compositional techniques available to fine watercolor artists.
Book Description
Explore the possibilities! Painting Light and Shadow presents an unlimited range of creative watercolor art. Selected from over four thousand entries, the featured artists were chosen for their outstanding talent in portraying light and shadow in their work. This collection includes:
--More than 130 paintings in a multitude of styles and techniques by artists from many different countries
--All subjects matter: portraits, landscapes, abstracts, and more
--Inspirations and techniques explained in the artists' own words
It is an important volume for art collectors, art connoisseurs, and artists themselves, beginning, amateur, and professional.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful reference of ways to achieve light an shadow........1999-01-28
Shadows, when done properly, show off any subject matter. The artists whose works are in this book were chosen from over 4,000 entries, and represent some of the best watercolor artists in the country. The authors have done a superb job of gather and displaying them in a wonderful venue.
Book Description
Explore the possibilities! Painting Color presents an unlimited range of creative watercolor art. Selected from over four thousand entries, the featured artists were chosen for their outstanding talent in the use of color in their work. This collection includes:
--More than 130 paintings in a multitude of styles and techniques by artists from many different countries
--All subjects matter: portraits, landscapes, abstracts, and more
--Inspirations and techniques explained in the artists' own words
It is an important volume for art collectors, art connoisseurs, and artists themselves, beginning, amateur, and professional.
Customer Reviews:
don't waste your money.......2006-07-06
terrible watercolor book. lots of pictures. that's about all! most of the pictures are not great watercolors either!
Visually exciting, mentally stimulating ........1999-04-17
This is not a how-to book. It is a visually exciting and mentally stimulating art book that makes you rethink your approach to using color. The color plates are clear and vivid thus making the exciting use of color that much more dramatic.
Book Description
The latest addition to our fine art series, "The Best of Watercolors 2" is a full-color showcase honoring some of the world's finest watercolor artists. The two hundred and fifty paintings shown here were selected by award-winning watercolor artists Betty Lou Schlemm and Larry Webster from a pool of more than 4,000 entries. This book features paintings in a multitude of styles and techniques by artists from many different countries. These paintings will acquaint you with unlimited range of creative uses of watercolor and introduce you to artists who are exploring those possibilities. An inspirational resource for artists of every level, this book is an essential addition to the library of any watercolor artist or collector.
Customer Reviews:
A beautiful collection of award-winning, quality watercolors.......1999-01-07
Best of Watercolor 2 continues to maintain the high standard set in the original edition. Ms Schlemm has collected a group of award-winning, and truly quality art works from a diverse group of artists. Anyone who enjoys the medium of watercolor will love this beautiful collection.
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