After purchasing many watercolor books on flowers and realizing they just didn't fit my needs, I was hesitant to purchase another one. But after seing Basic Flower Painting, I succumbed and am thrilled with the instructions and the step by step demos that are the most helpful of all. The price is so reasonable for what is provided in the content, and the colors are as vibrant as in a much more expensive book. I couldn't ask for anything more. I recommend it to any level artist whether beginner or advanced. There's something for everyone in it.

Caveat: this title may attract the novice, but "Basic" shouldn't be confused with "Beginning." If you are have a limited palette and are not yet conversant with terms like "charging color," "thirsty brush," and "modeling," the demonstrations may be frustrating.

That being said, the book is a joyful compendium of fine work by accomplished artists. Many examples are featured in the _Splash_ series. Demonstrations are varied, detailed, and challenging (although the section on special effects with cotton swabs is a bit long).

As a reference or idea-generator, the book is excellent. The editor has thoughtfully included sketches for constructing single blossoms, composite flowers, stems, leaves, weeds, and wild grasses. For the adventurous, she also includes articles on techniques with crumpled paper, compositions, acetate, acrylic, and airbrush.

I would recommend this book highly for an advanced beginner who is interested in exploring florals in more depth, or for the more accomplished artist who seeks a comprehensive overview of the subject.

If you really want to learn about flower painting, This is one book you simply cannot do without ! This book REALLY teaches you the basics step-by-step. It is beautifully illustrated and will give you the necessary knowledge in learning how to paint flowers with the help of different artists. There are very few books on flower painting that will give you this much demonstration, tips & techniques plus beautifully painted flowers that are painted so realistically that you can almost smell them.

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.

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.

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.

This book was extremely helpful to me as an already practicing professional artist. It had helpful suggestions for handling new details that I hadn't approached in a long time. For the beginner to the professional,this book has something for everyone. If you are interested in learning new techniques for solving some of the problems you may encounter, this is the book for you!!

This is an excellent book for both the two dimensional artist or the three dimensional sculptor. It has a wonderful assortment of various ethnic faces for reference and gorgeous children of various ages and backgrounds. The proportional head charts are the best that I have seen. "Keys to Painting Faces & Figures" is beautifully presented and would be an asset to any artist's library.

What a delightful surprise this book has been. I first picked it up at the library, but had to purchase a copy as a ready reference. There are so many useful tips and techniques for rendering natures beauty in watercolors. While this can pose serious challenges at times, this book gives you step by step methods to simplify the process. A must have for the serious watercolor enthusiast.

Having stumbled upon this book quite by accident, I was thrilled to find that the clear format, easily followed instructions, and wonderful graphics resulted in instant improvement of my watercolour portraits. There are suggestions about layers of color, highlighting, organizing your image, to name a few, that will add life and dimension to your work quickly and easily. This book will be a welcome addition to any reference library that a watercolor portrait artist is compiling.

Part 2 brings us more of the same brilliant wildlife paintings as those featured in Part 1. For my money, this second version has the winning edge because it is richer in African wildlife subjects (I am an African artist!), with some incredible work that captures the essence of the animal in a host of creative ways.

Like the first volume, there are a couple of paintings that are ghastly, but they are in the minority. Paintings are grouped into chapters, with similar headings to the first volume: viz. "Develop a unique design concept", "Convey a particular mood", Grab your viewer with tension", "Bedazzle your subject with light", "Express an animal's character", "Take a different viewpoint", Capture a moment in time with action", " Embellish your painting with colour", "Depict an expressive pose or behaviour", and "Feature the habitat or environment". The reader thus has a critical departure-point from which to view the works. The effect of this is a heightened involvement with some of the best wildlife paintings in the world.

If you can afford both books, add them both to your collection. If you have to make a choice, I would recommend this one. Even with a few lemons, it's still great.

This is a wonderful art book with beautiful illustrations and explicit directions on painting clear glass, lace and china, silver, wood, etc. A good book for any artist's library.

This was the first Splash book I had seen and I've now purchased all of them. As a newby to watercolor I have to say this is the most inspiring book on watercolor I have ever seen. The book includes 109 different artist's and, true to the title, all pics display spectacular ways of dealing with light as the focal point of the painting. Whenever I'm stuck for an idea, a quick review of this book has me rushing for my paints.

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.

I found the book to be very informative and, at times, inspiring. With the broad variety of styles discussed, there should be something for everyone. The works of Mr. Hook and Ms. Buel are particularly inspiring. I recommend it to any aspiring artist.

and your staring at the canvas waiting for something, anything to inspire you...

This book is excellent for taking your painting to the next level. Although the styles represented in the book are not my own, i took away several techniques after reading this book. The best thing about this book is it shows you HOW, so many books show the effect without the steps. Not this one, it's all laid out in an easy to understand and non-intimidating fashion.

The painting techniques of seven master artists, whose styles are quite diverse, are highlighted in as many chapters of this book. Textural techniques, flat opaque colors, ultra-realism, impasto, luminosity through thin glazes and experimental abstracts are all carefully described and illustrated on the pages. Not only do the artists take the reader through step-by-step demonstrations on one representative work, but they also showcase a gallery selection of other work that has been created through the same technique. My favorites were the incredibly dramatic, ultra realistic studies of still-life flowers by Barbara Buer. The technique of Michael Nevin, in his urban paintings shows an intense atmosphere of light and dark, reminiscent of Hopper. Although these are basic techniques, there is much to learn from the examples and the demonstrations are clearly described. Now, after reading the book, I am anxious to try this out for myself.