The Essence of Watercolour: The secrets and techniques of watercolour painting revealed Kindle Edition

I have always loved Hazel Soan's style, she paints in very loose style & her colors look very fresh & vibrant. Its a good book for any level, has amazing paintings on almost all the pages. But I wish, I would have researched more & should have bought Hazel Soan's other book called "Learn watercolor quickly". There are lots of Books of Hazel Soan's & one should research well to suit their own need if you like her style & want to stick to it. I wasn't aware at the time of buying that she has other books too. I am a software engineer & heavy online purchaser too, Hence I would like to suggest a new feature to Amazon which would display a small section of all other books from the same author. I know now, we could follow the author here & could see all the books listed on author's page, but its not enough.

This is really a great book.Thanks a lot Hazel for such a nice book. Unlike other books where half of the book goes into basic discussion of type of papers, colors, brushes etc, this book talks about how to achieve great results with whatever material you have. Of course author has mentioned briefly but appropriately about which type of brush is preferable or what to look for while selecting colors (e.g. whether it is transparent or opaque etc). If you are expecting step by step demonstrations then this book is not for you. If you already have some knowledge of painting with watercolors then this is an excellent book for you. Even the paintings in the book are really good and relevant to the topic.Please go for it!!Thanks a lot Amazon for a speedy delivery.

It was such an inspiring book. Hazel is such a master of the craft. I enjoyed it but feel to afraid to try. I intend to keep rereading the book till I find courage to give freedom to the watercolour paints on my box.

This is very valuable book on watercolor! So far i read. Detailed instructions. Nice presentation, lucid style, the author revealed more techniques.

I love this book. Not too much teaching but very useful tips. Quality of colour plates and photos is superb.

Smart

Very useful book.

Whilst this has a few new tips which are useful, overall I am rather disappointed in this book. I appreciate that Hazel Soan has a 'loose' style - and I would not have bought this if I had not wanted to produce loose watercolour paintings myself. I do 'get' the importance of the energy in quickly produced watercolours; and enjoy doing these. However, there is for me a line between 'loose' and 'slapdash/lazy'; which I think this book crosses. Almost all of the illustrations are sketches in my opinion, not finished and saleable paintings. I would have liked more detailed instruction on how to produce the latter. There are glaring anatomical inaccuracies, e.g. the female figure on page 125 has a left arm about 1 foot longer than her right; Racehorse No. 4 on page 127 has extremely inaccurate legs (similar to the racehorse on page 108 whose left hind appears attached to its belly); and the sketch/painting of the 'moon' on page 84 looks really nothing like the moon and very much like a scotch pancake. There are many other examples like these. The narrative is enthusiastic but rather repetitive and for me,as I said, lacks the necessary detailed instruction for a really professional guide. . .

Having spent most of my life working in watercolours, I wanted to develop the media in more depth and this book is absolutely superb for this....I didn't need the average watercolour book that gives you the basic level of techniques but wanted to get deeper into the use of them. It covers the use of your brush - holding it loosely; transparent v opaque; laying the paint; building the tones - something I find scary/hard; using the white of the paper; with 'Explore!' pages at the end of each chapter and the most awesome watercolours that could make you want to give up painting for ever but don't as they are so exciting; to know that I can get to that level...maybe!!!!!So; if you want a jolly good watercolour book this is a must...THANK YOU Hazel Soan your work is an inspiration to us all!!!! Sarah Orchard UK

This book provides helpful advice for watercolorists.

Another favourite! Hazel Soan has a great talent, but not only for painting fabulous pictures - she has a gift for explaining the elementary details clearly enough for even a complete beginner to grasp.

Not very useful as a help to watercolour painting. The pictures are nice enough but a bit basic and there are too many African scenes. Not much use for this painter. Try Ann Blockley or Jean Haines for inspiration and ideas both wonderful