Maury AasengBeginning Watercolor (Portfolio)

The painting is refreshing, but how watercolor is accomplished is not completely articulated. Lots of good information on figure painting. Most of the time I wanted to know what colors were being used, and they are only included in the section on hair and skin color. After loving the abstract cover, I found an illustration of a tree from page 52 on the internet, and I was sold. A solid value if you are interested in the artist's style, as watercolor techniques are standardized. Recommended for those who appreciate large illustrations, concise instruction, and uncluttered design.Makes a good compliment to the more extensive and detailed foundation instruction in  The Complete Guide to Watercolor

Excellent and helpful. A well-written and instructive book for beginners in watercolor. I will revise this review when I have a watercolor based on the book to show here. But I wanted to express my enthusiasm now. The artist gets right to the instruction without wasting too much time on introductory matters and provides helpful and encouraging advice on how to get started and use basic brushstrokes and watercolor techniques, including an overview of color and how to lay down washes. He then provides more detailed instruction in chapters titled “Painting Natural Features”, “Bringing Landscapes to Life”, “Moving to Manmade Structures”, “Building on the Body”, and “Capturing Reflections”. Throughout, the reader gets the impression that the author really wants to help the reader develop as a watercolorist by providing encouraging instruction rather than just displaying paintings to show his skill like some books do. Overall, this is a good and helpful book which will reward those who take the time to learn its lessons.

Although I appreciate the beginner watercolor tips offered, I think the book needs more description about how to paint the pictures. I've used other beginner books that offered better step-by-step directions. There are only a few pictures that I would want to paint. Others may feel differently, I realize.

The first chapters of this book were good and helpful. But then there are about 20 pages on portraits, hands, bodies, etc. This is not basic material. Unless someone is already skilled at these things, this is quite advanced. A whole book on it would be worthwhile. Landscapes, flowers, etc. are much easier for beginners in watercolor. Going more in depth into those topics would have made the book much better. I was hoping for more on landscapes especially.

Huge NO! This books cover is beautiful but the art inside is faces, bodys, hands, eyes and a few plain landscapes. What the heck!

I was looking for a watercolor book to show all the basic techniques and keep around for reference. This got the job done. Aaseng's artwork is beautiful. I enjoy his style very much. I do wish there was more detail on some of the techniques. I can still try them out based on what was given, but it will be a bit more trial-and-error.

Gave it to an exchange student interested in water coloring and she liked it

Great for a beginner watercolor painter.

Very intuitive. It develops and releases many people's hidden talents.

I looked at a friends copy and decided that I was going to buy it. It is a great resource book for watercolour. It has lot of tutorials and covers a wide variety of techniques that I haven't seen other books do.