Painting Houses and Gardens in Watercolour

by Richard Taylor

Painting your home and garden is very popular among amateur painters, reflecting the continuing interest in these subjects on television and in the media. It is an ideal subject for the artist, being literally on the doorstep, with the added bonus of the resulting paintings having a very personal quality. This guide begins with an explanation of the practical aspects of painting - exploring colour and texture, using a sketchbook and getting to grips with perspective and composition - and then it looks at a wide variety of houses, from town dwellings to country cottages, as well as some of the smaller details and architectural features that can provide such interest. It then moves on from the house, through the conservatory and out into the garden, where numerous interesting subjects can be found, such as wooden sheds, old stone walls and terracotta pots, not to mention the flowers and vegetables. With sketches, step-by-step sequences, staged demonstrations and Richard Taylor's watercolours to inspire and encourage, this book provides an introduction to this subject.

Genres: Art

Hardcover

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Richard Taylor is a professor of English and currently serves as Kenan Visiting Writer at Transylvania University. A former Kentucky poet laureate, he is the author of six collections of poetry, two novels, and several books of non-fiction, mostly relating to Kentucky history. A former dean and teacher in the Governor's Scholars Program, he was selected as Distinguished Professor at Kentucky State University in 1992. He has won two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and an Al Smith Creative Writing Award from the Kentucky Arts Council. He and his wife Lizz own Poor Richard's Books in Frankfort, Kentucky.