Watercolor Workbooks – Learning to Paint Flowers and How to Mix Colors

I have watched as the number of watercolor workbooks have vastly increased in a short period of time. The art purist in me screams that these books make copying someone else’s art readily available, but I must admit that the old masters learned art by copying someone else’s art. I have made a list of some of the watercolor workbooks available. While some of the paintings look like granny hallmark cards, many offer excellent options for studying color mixtures:

The books I have studied show not only a sketch for each painting, but also a finished painting. The thing I like most is that swatches of paint colors accompany each exercise.

The beginning watercolorist is faced with several challenges with each painting he elects to do.

Drawing the Subject –
Selecting the Proper Colors to Paint Each Subject –
Brush Control –
Water Conlrol

Drawing and Painting Any Subject Requires that the Students

See the Subject –
Interpret the Subject In Lines for the Sketch –
Interpret the shape in colors for the painting

The Watercolor Workbooks have already interpreted the subject in both line and colors. This allow the student to focus more on water and paint control.

Ultimately, the students will have mastered drawing, color mixing, and paint control. At that point, he can bank what he has learned in his mind and will be better prepared to paint on his own.

“The job of the teacher, as I see it, is to teach students, not how to draw, but how to learn to draw. They must acquire some real method of finding out facts for themselves lest they be limited for the rest of their lives to facts the instructor relates. They must discover something of the true nature of artistic creation – of the hidden processes by which inspiration works.” Kimon Nicolaides author of The Natural Way to Draw, My College Textbook.

In the above exercise, the student is challenged to draw the same subject from multiple angles.

I especially like the colors used in the above painting that includes both a vase and a background. Notice that the same workbook also includes exercises for studying several individual flowers.

HB1-18

In the above exercise, I like the way that the student is shown how to add backgrounds

I also like the above exercise, which is a study of the colors that might be reflected from a clear jar. I appreciate the use of blues as shadows in this painting.

A Spiral-Bound Watercolor Sketchbook Featuring 16 Floral Designs, with 34 Pages. HB2-17

HB2-19

34-Page Spiral-Bound Watercolor Coloring Book Suitable for & – 16 Floral Patterns

Basic Watercolor Practice Sketchbook for Painting Lovers, Floral Watercolor Tracing Book with 16 Exquisite Floral Line Drawings & Tutorials Inside. HB3-23