The Watercolour Companion

Let this innovative and indispensable book be your painting companion: simply dip in and out whenever you need advice and guidance from best-selling author, Matthew Palmer.

Start with watercolour basics and learn to plan successful pictures, then select expert guidance, tips for success, and beginner-friendly troubleshooting from within the sections on flowers, trees, buildings, water, people and wildlife. Discover how to make your moonlit sky really glow; learn how to paint lush, realistic foliage; add believable figures; and create driving rain and sparkling water.

Unique to this book are Matthew’s key mix swatches. These allow you to achieve perfect results every time; explaining the colours you need and in what proportion. The paint mix is shown both wet and dry, so you can compare your palette with the wet mix, and know what it'll look like once applied. The dry swatches stretch to the edge of the page, so you can also simply hold the book up to the object you’re painting, find a colour match and create the right mix with ease. 

The book also includes a pull-out picture finder, which will help you create the best composition from the scene in front of you, isolate and identify a colour, try different picture formats and help with proportion and size. Designed to aid you whilst painting either indoors or out, the small format and hard cover make the book easy to transport and to store with the rest of your painting kit.

Book Contents

Painting basics: Getting started 6, Preparing paint 8, What are key mixes? 10, Water and flow 12, Test your strength 14, Brushes and brushmarks 16, What paper? 18, Selecting colours 20, Adding more paints 22
Planning successful pictures: Using the picture finder 24, Finding time to paint 26, What to paint 28, Skies and light, Clear sky 30, Fresh cloudy sky 32, Evening sky 34, Key mixes for shadows 36, Sunset 38, Silhouettes 40, Moonlit sky 42, Stormy sky 44, Rainfall 46
Flowers: Masses of flowers 48, Daisies 50, Foxgloves 52, Poppies 54, Carpet of bluebells 56
Trees and woodlands: Trees in your paintings 58, Midground trees 60, Mixes for spring foliage 62, Cherry blossom 64, Distant woodland 66, Key mixes for summer foliage 68, Palm tree 70, Trees in rows 72, Key mixes for autumn foliage 74, Branches 76, Woodland 78
Building and mountains: Buildings in the landscape 80, Stonework 82, Doorways 84, Architectural accuracy 86, Rocks and cliffs 88, Mountains 90, Snow-capped peaks 92
Water and the sea: Key mixes for the sea 94, Waves and sea spray 96, The beach 98, Reflections 100, Boats 102
People and wildlife: Key mixes for skintones 104, Figures in your pictures 106, Adding a sense of life 108, Stag in wood 110, Small animals 112, Animals in the landscape 114, Kingfisher 116
Watercolour secrets and special effects: Falling snow 118, Fixing cauliflowers 120, Splashes and splatters 122, Leaf stencils 124, Beams of light 126
Glossary 128