Ready to Paint in 30 Minutes: Trees & Woodlands in Watercolour Paperback – May 1, 2018

When I first received this book I flipped through it, and as a beginner delving into learning watercolor, I thought that the paintings in this book looked too complex for me. However, I tackled them and am amazed and thrilled at my results! the tutorials are excellent and easy to follow, each tutorial builds skills upon the last one, so I am doing them in order! The size of the paintings start of at 4"x6", which I love as it just isn't so intimidating and I feel like I won't be wasting my Arches paper and W&N products if I fail. The paintings get larger as you progress through the tutorials. Excellent for beginners and those who want to brush up on landscaping techniques! Tracings for each landscape are provided also!

Gave this to my mom, who is a novice painter. She LOVED it. She said she has been impressed with the step-by-step direction. She found it easy to follow and has created several paintings already. Wish there were more books out there like this.

My drawing skills are somewhat limited, to say the least, but having access to tracings and step by step instructions means I can paint with confidence and feel proud of the finished products.

Where this book is most helpful for me, is it’s an excellent starting point for beginner watercolorists that instructs with good detail the steps and techniques to paint a basic landscape scene via a series of small, approachable 4”x6” studies. Particularly useful if you’re interested in woodland or countryside scenery throughout the 4 seasons or even if you’re just stuck on the mechanics of a painting a landscape in watercolor, working background to foreground, masking etc. A tracing pdf is available for download from the publishers site so you can skip the sketching step and get right down to painting.Where it misses: It would’ve been helpful to have included a section on basic individual tree types shown from a middle distance, ie canopy, trunk, limbs sort of thing. For example, the first Winter Tree project depicts an oddly shaped, ivy-covered tree that seems specific to the English countryside; while others like the Plane or Oak tree show a tree from an unusual angle. I personally don’t like the look of some of the dry brushed foliage effects, but it does work in places. Some of the subject matter is a little repetitive, ie “path in the forest” for several exercises, it would’ve been nice to vary some of those with other types of scenery.If you’re a fan of Geoff Kersey’s work or his other books you’ll likely enjoy this title too, although some of the techniques may look familiar.

This arrived in brand-new condition in excellent packaging and is exactly what I was looking for to expand my new artist endeavor.

This book is interesting and beautiful. These projects will be very fun and probably will decorate my walls in frames.

Love the tracings for practice paintings. My students will love this.

This book has some really good methods and exercises to help you in your landscape watercolor painting. I have done one painting in here already and plan to do more.