Creating Luminous Watercolor Landscapes

This is just one of many books I have on this general theme, but if not the most spectacular, it's certainly in the top rank for guidance, for a number of reasons. It's a pity, in a way, that the author spent so many years fingering the collars of criminals and putting out fires before turning to art full-time; not that he's done badly since - you just wonder what the outcome might have been if he'd been a full-time professional artist from day one.Edwards freely acknowledges his debt to the late Zoltan Szabo, the Hungarian-born Canadian/American artist, and that debt is very evident in his work; but it is equally representative of a particular impressionist (with a small "i") American watercolour school, which had its principal origins in Edgar Whitney(1894-1987, who in turn influenced (and often taught) many other notables such as Frank Webb, Tony Couch, and Skip Lawrence - even our own Ron "Big Brush" Ranson - and possibly Zsabo, too, all of them being noted teachers as well as artists. (And all having produced books, incidentally, any of which are well worth having, although perhaps not Szabo's entire large output.)Edwards is thus one of the current custodians of an established tradition which has much to recommend it. The loose, splashy watercolour is the most difficult kind to master, and if this be your goal, this book is as good an introduction as you will find - and comes with a 32 minute DVD (which I haven't viewed).Be aware that if you wish to emulate the author precisely and employ his favoured watercolour brand, MaimeriBlu, you will need to fork out around £120 for 14 x 15ml tubes and a large palette with enough space to squeeze out the entire contents of every tube in separate wells; he sells his own "Sterling Edwards Big Brush Pallette" for this purpose (and his own very expensive set of brushes), and whilst you would need to import that from the US, other "Big Brush Palettes" are available in the UK. It would be preferable not to try to copy the author's style so precisely, however, but simply to follow his lead using your own subject-matter, materials and equipment, and, in my view, employing fewer pigments, at least to start with - but do use that big brush...

I have only just received this book and having had a quick look through think it is a lovely book. Yes, it is starting at some of the basics but sometimes that's not a bad thing going back to the beginning. Its informative, inspiring and I think it will be very useful. I really like his style of painting - similar in a way to Carl Purcell - another American artist.One of the bonuses with this book which I hadn't realised at all when I ordered it is that you get a 30 minute dvd in the back of the book! I hadn't noticed it said on the front of the book that it came with a dvd so it was a very pleasant surprise. I haven't watched it yet but look forward to seeing it. For £11 odd its pretty good value - a hard back book and a dvd!

For several years I have been trying to paint watercolours, with varing degrees of success, but my constant cry has been "why can't I paint more loosely, more freely..?" Well, I think this book by Sterling Edwards will go a long way to helping me do just that. I can't wait to buy some large (really large!) brushes and follow his techniques. His no nonsense approach and very well explained demos. are refreshing and easy to understand, even thogh I am sure that it will take some practice to get used to. But that's going to be half the fun, practising, and - I hope - improving. Even if you know the basics about watercolours, this book and his explanation of how he works is a revelation.

Sterling Edwards' book is concise with plenty of examples with regard to his four step process; it includes a DVD, which I found helpful and raised my interest to buy his other DVD's. If you are wanting to develop a vibrant impressionistic style to watercolour painting, buy this book.

The book was excellent, very informative about which transparent watercolours to buy and how to use them in order to get the wonderful glows that he gets in his paintings. Also, there was a lot about negative painting that I found useful. He paints with a very large flat brush. There was also a great DVD hidden in the back sleeve that runs for about an hour.