En Plein Air: Light & Color: Expert techniques and step-by-step projects for capturing mood and atmosphere in watercolor

by Iain Stewart

Take your watercolor painting beyond the studio—learn how to effectively use color and light to capture mood, create atmosphere, and convey emotion on location.

Geared for beginning artists, En Plein Light & Color introduces a variety of techniques for on-location watercolor painting. Following a brief introduction to the basics of painting en plein air and an overview of the necessary tools and materials , you will learn how to choose a subject and paint a compelling outdoor composition using the subtleties of watercolor to create beautifully expressive subjects and themes.

Other important topics include perspective , rendering the background and foreground, capturing both urban and pastoral landscapes , mastering color to convey weather and time of day, and much more. From choosing just the right subject to awaiting the perfect time of day, let En Plein Light & Color guide you in your artistic travels as you explore this daring and expressive medium.

Painting outdoors is a rewarding, peaceful experience full of joy, adventure, and persistence. Let the En Plein Air Series guide you in your artistic travels as you explore this daring and expressive method of painting, wherever you may be.

Genres: Art, Reference, Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published April 13, 2021

Reviews

[The Sassy Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐

First up, the cover on this one is gorgeous! 🎨

This was truly a delightful book to dive into. Full of beautiful illustrations, step-by-step instructions and tips and tricks to help you up your watercolor game. This would make the perfect gift for the artist in your life. 🙌🏻

**ARC Via NetGalley**

[Nikolina Dancheva · Rating 3 out of 5]

И тази арт книга за съжаление е попаднала в капана на неизяснена концепция на кого точно трябва да послужат инструкциите в нея - на напълно начинаещи художници, които току-що са хванали молив и четка за първи път или на малко по-опитни творци. В резултат, в книгата има обяснения на съвсем базови техники, които обаче са разгледани твърде набързо, последвани от инструкции от типа на "добавете детайли", които изискват лична преценка, която се добива единствено с опит.

Все пак книгата е отличен начин човек да надникне в скицника и ума на художник от калибъра на Iain Stewart. За мен беше повече от интересно (и полезно) да се запозная с неговите подход и техника на работа. Качеството на печата на книгата също е на изключително високо ниво и всяка скица и картина на художника изглеждат страхотно, макар и не в оригинал. Възможността да разгледам толкова негови творби от близо, направи покупката на тази книга напълно оправдана.

Отчитам факта, че книгата е част от поредица и верятно художникът е трябвало да се съобрази с нечии чужди изисквания и визия за формата и съдържанието. Все пак разнопосочните съвете свалят нивото на книгата и не бих я препоръчала на напълно начинаещи - смятам, че могат да се намерят по-добри инструкционни книги на темата. Ако обаче сте човек с понатрупан опит в акварела, "Light & Color" се превръща в ценност, която ви позволява да се докоснете до подхода на един прекрасен художник.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am only a beginner in watercolor painting, but this was immensely helpful for me. The layout of the book starts with the sketchbook and how to plot out the image, and then moves through the topics in the order that would be important for painting. He has a lot of helpful tips and tricks on the way, and also has detailed explanations for how to achieve the foundational techniques of watercolor (like a graded wash).

One of the best things about this book is the series of paintings that Stewart goes through step by step. As a beginner, I always wonder how certain looks are achieved, and it's helpful to me to see the process laid out so clearly.

I have never painted ein plein air, but after reading this book, I not only would like to give it a try, but feel empowered to do so. Highly recommend this book for anyone else who is interested in watercolor, but needs some further instruction.

Thank you to Iain Stewart, Walter Foster Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

En Plein Air Light & Color is a watercolor masterclass by Iain Stewart. Due out 13th April 2021 from Quarto on their Walter Foster imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a technique and tutorial manual in a similar format to the classic (and beloved) Walter Foster instruction books familiar to everyone. I used to love to spend time looking at the spin racks at my favorite arts supply store in town and generally came away from shopping with one or two tucked into my supplies.

The introductory chapters cover very basic tools, materials, and techniques. Mr. Stewart does a very good job of imparting really valuable tips and tricks scattered throughout the text. He talks about attitude to working outdoors, organization, light (and predicting what it's going to do and how it will affect the work process), warming up, sketching, and lots more. I was impressed with the amount of detail and information in the two short introductory chapters. The artist is meticulous and studious. I can imagine that he's a very gifted instructor and envy anyone who has the chance to take a class or workshop from his studio. (Hint to groups, he apparently does do group workshops, so it's something to keep in mind after the plague is behind us).

The bulk of the book is taken up with the tutorials. There are step by step guided tutorials to be recreated. There are also several technique chapters which are less step-by-step and more generally technical. Throughout the book, the author imparts *many* tips. Apart from the gorgeous and colorful art and illustrations, I think I'm most impressed over the density of accessible and usable information he manages to convey.

Well worth seeking out. I would highly recommend this one for the artist's home studio, maker's groups, painting groups, or as a gift perhaps bundled with some of the author's recommended tools/supplies (he doesn't tout particular brands, just sizes, colors, and qualities of pigment). The information contained here is not only applicable to outdoor location painting and sketching. This is a good technical guide for watercolor and sketching in general.

Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

En Plein Air: Light & Color
Expert techniques and step-by-step projects for capturing mood and atmosphere in watercolor
by Iain Stewart
Back of the Book: “Take your watercolor painting beyond the studio—learn how to effectively use color and light to capture mood, create atmosphere, and convey emotion on location.
Geared for beginning artists, En Plein Air: Light & Color introduces a variety of techniques for on-location watercolor painting. Following a brief introduction to the basics of painting en plein air and an overview of the necessary tools and materials, you will learn how to choose a subject and paint a compelling outdoor composition using the subtleties of watercolor to create beautifully expressive subjects and themes.
Other important topics include perspective, rendering the background and foreground, capturing both urban and pastoral landscapes, mastering color to convey weather and time of day, and much more. From choosing just the right subject to awaiting the perfect time of day, let En Plein Air: Light & Color guide you in your artistic travels as you explore this daring and expressive medium.
Painting outdoors is a rewarding, peaceful experience full of joy, adventure, and persistence. Let the En Plein Air Series guide you in your artistic travels as you explore this daring and expressive method of painting, wherever you may be.”
Impressions: This book gave me the courage to try something new. Overall, it was a useful book to learn and grow from.
Liked: I appreciated the technical advice throughout the book. Taking a black and white picture of my palette was something I had not thought to do but was helpful in understanding the value of the color in the painting. Working from light to dark seems simple but I tend to focus on the quickest way and end up losing my light along the way. Layering takes patience. I’ve had to slow down my process to accomplish what the author describes. I also appreciated the author's suggestion not to remove pages from your sketchbook. Thinking of your sketchbook is where you experiment, try new things, and let loose is freeing.
Disliked: The author gave specific brands in the materials section. This is generally helpful unless you are unable to get said brands. It would be helpful to describe what to look for in supplies as well as give brand examples to be most helpful.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review shared here.

[Words & Nocturnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

En plein air refers to act of painting outdoors where the artist’s subject is presented in full view. The book by Iain Stewart begins with a list of materials and suggested tools. As usual, it is recommended to find what we are most comfortable with. I find it interesting to know what others use to create their art while trying to figure out what works best for myself. Who knows, some of other artist’s favourite tools could become a staple in our own favourites if we ever get the chance to try them out!

In the book, the author shares his painting processes, which I found helpful. When we are brought through these images and accompanying text, there is an emphasis on perspective, and the author points out things to look for, such as vanishing lines. For a beginner like me, these points are incredibly informative as it helps me figure out what to take note of. The images offer a clear picture of what to focus on and how to achieve certain effects.

Overall, the book is packed with helpful watercolour tips for beginners and for those who are seeking to improve their own techniques.

This book reminded me of the similarly useful guides shared by artist Devin Elle Kurtz on Instagram and Twitter, though her guides tend to focus on digital art.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Walter Foster Publishing, and Iain Stewart for giving me the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Mechthild · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you draw or paint outside?
Award-wining watercolor artist Iain Stewart presents "En Plein Air: Light & Color. Expert techniques and step-by-step projects for capturing mood and atmosphere in watercolor", one of the book from the "En plein Air" series published by Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster. After the introduction the book is divided into seven chapters: 1) Materials, 2) Sketchbooks, 3) Drawing on Location, 4) Painting Techniques, 5) Capturing the Details, 6) Composition, Light & Color, and 7) From Field to Studio. Stewart talks about his personal experiences with drawing outdoors and says about it: "... painting outdoors is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects of my work. While these are the ideal locations for the plein air painter, finding the beauty in an alley or looking for new painting spots can be just as fulfilling. The knowledge that beauty and fulfillment are a mere stone’s throw away constantly pulls me outside to record the world around me" (p. 8).
I highly appreciated the graphic, design and examples of his work. The author also included tips which accompany the step-by-step paintings. And although Stewart works with watercolor many of his information and tips are also useful for artists who use other media. I highly recommend this book for every artist who likes to work "en plein air".
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#EnPleinAirLightColor #NetGalley

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

lovely art tutorial book! Well put together and good demonstrations. I haven’t done much painting on location and my watercolor tends to get overworked and muddy so I hope to use some of these techniques later this year when it is warmer (while being safe and wearing a mask out in public, of course!)

There are several demos of quaint towns and villages, a couple for larger cities, a flower demo, and some cars and of course boats. Some composition tricks are added as well as a few warm up exercises and a material list at the beginning of the book.

The artist uses mainly Daniel Smith watercolor paints, but you could substitute student grade paint or other artist brands—although for more specialized colors obviously the results won’t necessarily be the same. Honestly I would be more concerned about having good watercolor paper than what brand of paint you have at first. 👍🏻 If you can’t swing a full palette of professional watercolor paint, stick to introductory warm and cool primary colors. Just those six tubes of paint will help you immensely with learning mixing techniques. (Speaking as an acrylic artist here who has dabbled in wc.)

In any case the author has several good watercolor tips useful for beginner to intermediate painters. Here’s hoping for successful paintings for everyone!

[BM · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have many many watercolor books and this is one of the really good ones. Even as an experienced watercolorist this book gave me several good tips and techniques to try that should improve my painting. I really liked the emphasis on using a sketchbook and tips on being able to paint en plein air. this book is also good for beginning watercolors as well. I did not give it five stars, because the section on composition is weaker than some of the other books that I've seen. I think a couple of examples showing placement of shapes and how value changes make a difference could really help make this section stronger. overall, however, this book is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to get better at watercolor and in particular those who would like to paint outside. as a side note, this artist is available to watch the process that he uses for painting on YouTube. I think watching the YouTube demonstrations would probably be helpful to understanding some of the processes that he describes. something that I think would add value to both the book and the video demonstrations.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this book.

This book takes you from the studio into the outdoors. It explains the materials needed to be able to set up and paint outside. It encourages taking only the items you need rather than carrying a heavy bag all day. The artist/ author describes the type of paints, paper, and brushes he uses and this is helpful to the beginning watercolorist.

This book focuses heavily on drawing in a fairly detailed way before beginning to paint. That might frighten some beginners off if they don’t feel their drawing skills are adequate.

My favorite take away from this book was painting and including people in your paintings. I find that challenging and the author did a nice job of walking you through this process.

This book would be a great watercolor book for the artist’s reference shelf. The
exercises would be ones to come back to, and practice, time and time again.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"En Plein Air: Light & Color" is an art instruction book on watercolor painting. The author focused on urban landscapes and painting outside while viewing your subject. He provided useful tips on these topics (including useful tools and materials) and on watercolor painting in general. He provided several step-by-step exercises to teach various techniques, including perspective, creating good contrasts in value, and how to paint people, cars, and boats with minimal detail so that they don't distract the viewer from your focal point. He talked about choosing colors and creating a sense of light and dark to draw focus and create mood. I felt like he was able to clearly convey information and describe techniques. Overall, I'd recommend this book to watercolor painters who want to learn how to paint on location, urban landscapes.

I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! You can learn a lot of tips and techniques about painting on location in a very relaxed and detailed way. The painting process is very well explained and wont leave you wondering about skipped steps like in other books, This makes it exceptionally good for beginners. It teaches by example, with step-by-step demonstrations of painting on site.

The focus is on the foundational steps to painting en plein air (for both pastoral and urban landscapes) and creating with watercolors in general. Some of the topics covered are: sketching, watercolor techniques, limited color palette, capturing light and mood, washes, perspective and painting people

I really liked the way Iain Stewart explains things and I am grateful that he shares his knowledge without holding back anything. He is a great teacher and would highly recommend this book if you want to have a smooth start in your painting journey.

[Desiree M · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC provided via Netgalley & the Publisher for Honest Review

This is honestly one of the better plein air/urban sketching books I have come across for two reasons:
1.) this is an instruction book which actually instructs, taking you through each pass of the watercolor step by step and,
2.) Iain Stewart breaks down the purpose and methods of thumbnailing sketches both for composition and for color. You're shown not just what a thumbnail is, but how to use them for improving your final paintings, for testing color mixes, and so on.

Stewart also has a great sense of how to not only show how to achieve detailed paintings, but also how to let yourself balance your painting by not overly controlling it. Especially with watercolors, playing with light, pigment, color, and so on can be an ongoing experiment which requires flexibility in painting.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a very good book on watercolor. The author emphasizes the need to lol at shapes and to eliminate unnecessary elements that create clutter. This book is good for someone with some watercolor experience. This isn’t a step by step introduction to watercolor because many skills are assumed. As an experienced watercolor painter I found many things I had learned but needed a see fro a different perspective, which the author provides. The examples are beautiful and the author emphasizes the importance of design in placement of shapes and composition. Very good book to give the intermediate to advanced artist plenty to learn from and to review the basics of good design.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance copy.

[Agnes Preszler · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is one of the volumes that conquers you beginning from the cover. Gorgeous loose style in watercolour, on location, the book contains useful tips for this difficult task.
It is written in a personal way, the author tells about his experience including mistakes and gives practical advices.
The step by step tutorials are not very many, there are four cityscapes (two modern. two old cities), a floral still life and a ship in the port scene, but there are many examples and tips that probably will compensate for this.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a fabulous book for both beginner and more advanced watercolour artists. Full of wonderful illustrations of Iain Stewart’s paintings, combined with a full explanation of his tips and techniques to help improve the budding watercolour artist’s work. He certainly knows how to explain the use of colour, composition and light. Very impressed and an absolute delight to learn from a master painter.

[Andreea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange of my honest opinion.

This is a great book regardless if you are a beginner with watercolours or not. Some of the tips the author offers are the base you need for starting with watercolours, other tips are for more advanced painters.

At times I found it hard to follow and I wish the illustrations illustrated better all the different steps and techniques the author was talking about.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent. Lots of tips for Plein air painters of any medium. I do not paint in watercolor, however, I did find this book very helpful to my oil Plein air painting.

I received this galley from NetGalley.

[Sharon Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really useful guide for beginners in watercolour painting.
Simple steps and ideas to build your skill.
Found it helpful and full of steps to build on.
Recommended
4 Stars ⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair review.

[Witch-at-Heart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply beautiful. The artwork was litterally awe inspiring and I really loved the detailed instructions. The illustrations are incredibly well done. I just honestly can't say enough! This would definitely make a great gift to any artist. Truly a wonderful guide fir watercoloring.

[Tonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent intermediate watercolor book! Watercolor became a hyper-fixation for me in 2021-2022, and I started with a few basics to get me started. This was a great step after reading those very basic beginner books.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walter Foster art series revamped and modernized with great techniques and color well worth the study of this book.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Shelby Nower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iain gives simple, but important input on the harmony between color and light. Light informs a painting of time, weather, and mood. Color speaks in the same language, but does so poetically; transforming the ordinary, emphasizing emotion, and breathing life into even mundane scenes.

He explains a key piece of advice about materials: just because something costs more does not mean it will perform better. He uses an analogy of getting from point A to B using a sports car and the bus, saying that either way, you're getting to the same spot. I like this way of describing the grades of paint, and may use this myself.

Iain details exactly what materials he uses. He uses synthetic Escoda Ultimos and Perlas, a Stillman and Birn Alpha series sketchbook, Saunders Waterford 140 lb paper, Fabriano Artistico 140 lb Rough. He gives a full chart of exactly what colors and brands of paints he uses, putting together a mix of Daniel Smith, Holbein, and Winsor and Newton. I won't list out his colors here, but the colors artists choose to have on hand fascinate me. He has several purples in his palette and multiples of green/red/yellow/etc. Though he lists Holbein, it doesn't appear to come with him in his travels.

He uses a Craig Young brass palette, which I have only ever seen used by him so I doubt it's very popular now. He also uses a Holbein steel palette, and recommends students use a Avlin Heritage palette. He says to never fully clean your palette, and I guess it just occured to me now that I have only ever cleaned mine once, and that was when I was replacing my travel box full of student Reeves paints with artist Sennelier paints.

Since shadows move quickly when you're outside, Iain suggests sketching in your shadow lines when you first arrive rather than adding them in later. He also prefers being able to see through to the initial wash even in the final painting.

[Danni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

This book has filled me with inspiration! Not only with paints as the medium but for my photography as well! It gave me more perspective on composition, lights and colour. The art in the book is beautiful and hopefully, I will be able to paint like this by using the techniques and tips from the book.

Rating: 5⭐
Would I Read It Again? Yes
Would I Recommend it? Yes