Ana Victoria Calderon

Color Harmony for Artists
How to Transform Inspiration into Beautiful Watercolor Palettes and Paintings
by Ana Victoria Calderon
Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry

This book took me back to creating color swatches using the many watercolor paints I had. I would take the blues and put them down one side and mix them with yellows of all colors and paint them into grids with information beside them to keep and use in future painting projects. I learned a great deal creating color swatches like show more the ones mentioned in this book.

The interesting idea that I came away from while reading this book had more to do with looking at what surrounds me and then trying to recreate the colors I see. Each example included a photo example then a color swatch created from the photo and a design or painting that used the colors created in the swatch. Colors used by the artist with further information was also provided. I had never considered looking around my house, outside, in cities, at tiles, in historical sites and other places for palettes to create color swatches for paintings.

I believe this would be a great book to add to my library just for the ideas related to color. I am sitting here thinking of colors I would like to dabble with and what I would like to paint next and not having picked up and wet my watercolor brushes for a couple of years...that is rather contemplating to contemplate.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Quarry for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars show less

What a great and colorful book. The cover, itself, is so attractive that you cannot resist requesting for it. I have been trying to learn something different, and, as an artist the book is like a gift for me. The artist has given full detailed instructions with all the materials list, which naturally helps a beginner. I have even tried some of the designs of Sacred Geometry. I would, definitely, give the book 5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an opportunity to read and review the show more book. show less

This short guide to watercolor techniques is great for beginners and has step-by-step instructions that really helped me follow along. The book isn't comprehensive but is a nice starter guide.

This is a project-based book with step by step instructions and plenty of images that will guide you through the process. It explains really well the tools you will need and the different options you can choose from. For example, pros vs.cons of tube, pan and liquid watercolors along with recommended brands. The first section is for warm-ups and basic techniques to get you started. Once you are comfortable with with the basics, you can try the projects from the next sections.

Projects consist show more of simple stylized objects (modern watercolors approach, no realism here) which makes them easy to complete. They are grouped in "flowers and foliage", "butterflies and other critters", "fruits, veggies and nuts" and "lettering". It gives plenty of sample alphabets to choose from.

With all the lessons learned in this book, you should be able to create more elaborate watercolor projects and beautiful illustrations, greeting cards or any other crafty project. A fun way to get you started into this popular media.

- Good for beginners.
- For the weekend hobbyist and as art therapy.
- Projects suitable to enjoy with kids.
- If you want to add modern watercolors to your crafts or designs. show less