Watercolour Enigma, The: A Complete Painting Course Revealing the Secrets and Science of Watercolour

by Stephen Coates

A progressive, informative art course for beginner watercolourists, revealing the secrets and science behind watercolour.

A very carefully structured book, Stephen moves from the basics to more complicated exercises in a well considered way, building both confidence and technical ability as you progress through the pages.

Covering everything from colour mixing to lifting out, scratching and washes, this

book is a fantastic reference guide to all aspects of watercolour, as well as how to

further develop each project should you wish to.

Search Press - Paperback - 128 pages - Colour throughout

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Crafts

96 pages, Paperback

Published April 3, 2018

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for beginner watercolourists. Coates explains his techniques in easy-to-understand terminology. The step-by-step exercises, which actually produce completed paintings, are of particular value to new artists. Helpfully, he has kept his palette simple, limiting the colours to ones most beginner painters have on hand. This is a good, overall "how-to" watercolour instruction guide.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic book finally made sense of many points in watercolour I was struggling with. Highly recommended

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book from start to finish. I really enjoyed some of the scientific elements in understanding how watercolor works. I also appreciated how the author stressed several times in the book to not be hard on yourself, practice and if it doesn't work out, that is okay, just start over! I'll bet he is a good teacher in person.
It was amusing to see some of the differences in that this was a Brit writing the book rather than American so there were a few language differences, but all understandable and I may adopt some of his terms anyway. I am a professional artist but it is always good to learn some new techniques. This was good for the beginning artist. I only wish he had a few more examples. It would also have been nice to include for tips and techniques, such as using salt, magic erasers (surprised that he didn't suggest dipping a brush in dish soap when using masking fluid.) But that being said, we all have our own habits, so reading a lot of different books is good to develop your own.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a beginning watercolorist, and I have purchased several books in the last several months. This is the one I have been looking for.

Stephen Coates is very straight-forward and gives complete step-by-step instructions on the basics of watercolor. Each exercise builds on the previous one. Instructions are precise and well illustrated. I think I will make a lot of progress using this book.

Be aware, however, that Coates is teaching his method of watercolor. You will read different instructions in other books and see other methods of YouTube. The advantage is that, although this is not the only way to learn watercolor, it is a great way to learn one method.