The BEST Tips from my 5 Favorite Watercolor Books

Here are links to the books I mention... James Gurney - amzn.to/3wsqAe7 Jan Kunz - amzn.to/49nesK0 Judy Morris - amzn.to/48pQ88T Alex Powers - amzn.to/3wnXUmD Mary Whyte - amzn.to/4bM1ruV Join my facebook for free at fb.com/groups/rachelswatercolorworkshop Paint with me at patreon.com/rachelsstudio Check out my art at www.rachelsstudio.com/

Thanks for saying you just don’t work that way. Biggest pet peeve in the art world are the rules. For every group of painters working in today’s “right way” there are other groups working in different styles making beautiful art. There are many right ways!

Thank you for this! Color is truly fascinating. I am an older (79) beginner and find this to be valuable information.

Thanks Rachel! I have that book of James Gurney for quite a while on my bookshelf but had only a quick view in it when I bought it and that’s it. Now I need to pick it from my shelf 😂❤

Thank you Rachel, I can't understand the way the instruction in the books is explained, you make it understandable, I really appreciate it. You are an awesome teacher.

You are an awesome teacher Rachel. After I joined your patreon I went from looking at a white piece of paper not knowing where to start, to feeling confident in how to begin and tweak a finished painting. You’re full of great tips and I love that you share even more from your own painting journey. Thank you for breaking down what could be hard to understand information from these other artists books.

Hi Rachel. Jim from Madrid, Spain (a fellow artist and a New Yorker expat living abroad). Nice set if books shown and great tips extracted from each of them. Some I own, some I heard from and I might increase my "small" library with 1 or 2. Thank you for sharing and I love your enthusiasm and passion in all of your videos... It's always great to "feel" your cheerful nature! Cheers from Sunny Spain!! 😁👍😎✌

Hi Rachel (again). Jim from Madrid, Spain (a fellow artist and a New Yorker expat living abroad). Forgot to mention that with regards to using local color and specially light, and how they interact with the rest if shadows and color... one if my favourite Master Artists of all times doing that (in Oil Painting but it is sooooo useful in watercolor due to the luminosity and transparency of the medium) is " Sorolla" (Spanish - from Spain - painter from the early/mid 20th Century and incredible in how he plays and paints with light!). Even though he is an Oil painter... his techniques and how he uses local color and light are just super useful and amazingly helpful in watercolor. Just a personal opinion I wanted to share with y'all in case it might interest anyone else. Cheers from Sunny Spain! 😁👍😎✌

Hi Rachel. I hope you’re having a great day. Thanks for the book mini reviews and recommendations. I too am a huge fan of James Gurney and have seen Jane Kunz on TV. I would love to get all those books!! The painting watercolor with light one is on the top of my list already actually. I am mostly a landscape painter but am learning portraits, both human and animal. It’s a challenging endeavor. ❤❤❤❤

A wonderful collection of new to me books 📚 to add to my reference library! Thanks for sharing these wonderful informational tips!

I have read tons of watercolor books since 2008. But few I loved enough to revisit again and again. Both are from living artists, one by James Toogood called, Incredible Light and Texture in watercolor. The other, by Susan Harrison-Tustain called, Glorious Garden Flowers in watercolor. My 2 faves.

You're a wealth of information, thanks. This probably relates more to the last video but I read this somewhere and it stuck; A great artist will do whatever it takes to get the effect that they are after. There are still guidelines for stuff like composition, light and darks, tone, colours etc but these are there to help you create a better painting. But you may need to go against these guidelines to get an effect you after which is fine to.

Thanks for all your tips Rachel!...It now takes me longer now to finish a painting.....

Thank you for extra fab tutorial. I will buy some of these books. So do I understand the Alex Powers suggestion of redesigning the local color? For example your black cat at end of tutorial has every color, which I love, and what I am interpreting Alex Powers as suggesting. So is that the opposite of what Charles Reid suggests of using strong local color? Thanks!

Awesome. Love these reviews

Great content, thanks !

Love your videos. I've been watercoloring for over 20 years (gulp!), and without question, need more consistent practice to improve. I find myself mostly stuck at the drawing stage. Any tips (other than just keep doing it)?

Rachel, check out Thomas W. Schaller re: on your point about local color and going to a color that works with the paintings instead of the local color itself, and for another amazing living watercolorist.

Hi Rachel! Another great video ❤. FYI, the links you mention in the video aren’t there. Can you post them in the description?

How were these books recommended to you?