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Trees, Woodlands and Forests in Watercolor
What To Paint Series
Geoff Kersey

Search Press
16 April 2012 (US 1 August 2012) / ISBN 978-1844487615
How-To Books/Painting

Amazon US - UK

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

Want to paint a picture but not sure of a subject? Or maybe you have recently graduated from the Ready To Paint series and are up for a more challenging project? Either way here is another entry in the What To Paint series that solves the problem.

There are twenty-four pictures in here to paint, all depicting trees in various landscapes. Turn to the back and there are the outlines to transfer to watercolor paper with a handy chart at the front showing small thumbnail images so you can decide what type of scene to tackle. Each project is described on two pages, one with a full page colored photograph of the finished work and the other with a list of the paints you need with the colors shown plus instructions. These are not the in-depth captioned photographic stages found in the Ready To Paint series or some other Search Press art books but a brief description of what the artist did to achieve various effects. This is a helpful "halfway house" between the beginners books and going it alone, and at the beginning of the book there are more useful mini tutorials. These include wet into wet, masking fluid, dry brushing and color mixing for this type of subject. There are also instructions on how to transfer the outlines. The paintings themselves are glorious, the sort of scenes you wish you could step right into. Apart from one in Manhattan park the others in are England, mostly in the Derbyshire area, a few in the New Forest and other locations. There are snowy landscapes that would suit a Christmas card, colorful autumn woods, verdant forests in summer and bright springtime scenes. My favorite has to be the beautiful bluebell wood, and these are the sort of restful but cheerful pictures that suit most walls.

Reviews of other titles by Geoff Kersey

Watercolour Landscapes (Take Three Colours)
Mediterranean Landscapes in Watercolour (Take Three Colours)
Watercolour Seascapes (Take Three Colours)
Bluebell Wood in Watercolour (Paint it)
New York in Watercolor (Ready to Paint)
Trace and Paint Watercolour (Ready to Paint)
Trees, Woodlands and Forests in Watercolor (What to Paint)

UK Reviewer: Rachel Hyde's work can be found in The Bead Magazine, Making Jewellery and www.craftsuprint.com/rachel-a-hyde/
Reviewed 2012
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