...It starts you off with decisions you need to make before you even make a purchase. Students' colors or standard? Tubes or pans? What paper to buy, or perhaps another surface? What about an easel, and how many brushes? When I bought my first materials I wish I had had a book like this to read before I made my purchases. The book then goes on to discuss different painting techniques, and discuss pigments and what they can do. The color wheel is there, but whereas in many books that is all it is - just sits there on the page looking inscrutable - here there are discussions about warm and cool colors, tones, shades and tints and more. Finally, after the hors d'oeuvres we get to the meat of the book, and that is the mixing. With a palette of 18 colors, the directory mixes 50 other colors to show what each can do, and what they look like when mixed. The colors are described as to their permanency, behaviour, particular uses etc and enough else so you can try it at home too. Go to the back and you can find out about making colors look transparent, mix subtle grays and find out about lightfastness. This truly is a very useful primer for any aspiring watercolour artist, and quite a few existing ones.

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