Used price: $2.25
Collectible price: $8.50
Buy one from zShops for: $5.25
List price: $29.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $15.95
List price: $19.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $12.50
Buy one from zShops for: $13.87
List price: $28.99 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $12.00
Collectible price: $21.18
Buy one from zShops for: $15.15
I was also very pleased with her chapter on composition. Composition has always been a particularly weak subject for me so I'm always looking for insight in how to create stronger designs for my paintings. For example, I liked her suggestion of lightly penciling an "X" from two corners to their opposites. If your painting has several minor points of interest this will help you arranging them for maximum impact to help the main point of interest so all areas of the painting will have a strong design. She covers how to take reference photos and pull them together for one original painting. She also covers painting from life.
She covers everything from paper selection to stretching and masking. She covers brush selection, color theory (hue, chroma, value), color mixing strategies (occasionally she will use a tiny bit of white gouache for fine details), properties of pigments and using them to maximum effect to brushing techniques such as glazing, drybrushing, scraping, splattering, rock salt, etc for textures. There are a lot of mini-demonstrations with step-by-step close ups of popular wildlife subjects such as waterdrops on leaves, eyes, feathers, cobwebs, peeling paint, rotting wood, fog, snow, blurred hummingbird wings, out-of-focus backgrounds, etc. The later chapters of the books have full step-by-step demonstrations of complete paintings.
In short, even though the subject is about wildlife painting a large part of the book has information and techniques that could be used for other types of paintings as well. And I'm still amazed she does this all in watercolor. If I did not know better I would swear she achieved some of the details in oil or acrylic. Many of the birds in the focus area look like they were painted in oil or acrylic while the rest of the painting would have the more typical "watercolor-ish" look. I am surprised anyone can have such control over watercolor they could make it look like oil or acrylic if they choose to do so! She certainly has that control. Some of the techniques she demonstrated for detailing a bird wing almost remind me of egg tempera painting. Yet she makes sure that the paintings never lose the special charm that watercolor has. Painting the Allure of Nature is definitely one of my top 3 wildlife how-to books in my collection. If you enjoy painting birds and their environments I think you would enjoy this book's insights.
Used price: $1.90
Buy one from zShops for: $7.95
Used price: $35.95
Buy one from zShops for: $49.98
List price: $23.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $3.88
Buy one from zShops for: $4.99
Used price: $2.50
Collectible price: $5.29
Buy one from zShops for: $42.95
Used price: $21.15
Collectible price: $21.18
Buy one from zShops for: $22.99
Used price: $5.29
Collectible price: $21.18