Ready to Paint in 30 Minutes: Street Scenes in Watercolour

Introduction 6
Basic painting equipment 8
Tone 10
Project 1: A tonal puzzle 12
Project 2: Wall lamp 14
Project 3: Distant buildings 16
Project 4: Shadows 18
Colour and colour mixing 20
Project 5: Colour charts 22
Project 6: Windowbox 24
Project 7: Shop signs 26
Perspective 28
Project 8: Vanishing points 30
Project 9: Doorways 32
Project 10: Windows 34
Project 11: Close Buildings 36
The wash 38
Project 12: Flat washes 40
Project 13: Rendered washes 42
Project 14: Lifting out colour 44
Edge control 46
Project 15: Softening an edge 48
Project 16: Clear blue skies 50
Project 17: Stormy skies 52
Project 18: Statues 54
Project 19: Reflections 56
Brushstrokes 58
Project 20: Applying paint 60
Project 21: Brick walls 62
Project 22: Summer trees 64
Project 23: Palm trees 66
Project 24: Railings 68
Adding detail 70
Project 25: Fountains 72
Project 26: Ornate buildings 74
Project 27: Lamp posts 76
Putting it all together 78
Project 28: Market stalls 80
Project 29: Prams and buggies 82
Project 30: Transport 84
Project 31: Café Scene 86
Project 32: Steps 88
Final project 1: Winter scene 90
Final project 2: Summer Continental scene 92
Final project 3: Rainy UK scene 94
Index 96
Tracings

About Grahame Booth

Grahame Booth tutors workshops and holiday courses around the world. He is a popular demonstrator for art clubs and his paintings have been awarded many national and international awards. His work is featured in books, videos and art magazines, including Artists & Illustrators. Grahame is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His work is represented in private collections worldwide and in public collections in Ireland and the USA. He is Past President of the Ulster Watercolour Society and a member of the Watercolour Society of Ireland.

Grahame works in a relatively loose, traditional style. His subject range is international, and his use of colour, light and shadow are particularly impressive. He is the author of Ready to Paint in 30 Minutes: Street Scenes (Search Press, 2017), The Paint Pad Artist: Watercolour Landscapes (Search Press, 2018), and he is a contributing author to Artist's Painting Techniques (DK, 2016).

To see more of Grahame's work visit www.grahamebooth.com

The SAA Catalogue 19/20

Add exciting and highly effective elements to your street scenes with this detailed yet accessible guide!

With easy-to-follow steps, Grahame introduces brickwork, windows, trees, people and many other details that make up a busy street scene.

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Not Compulsory

The artwork in the book is beautiful, and excitingly this step-by-step project book really makes the beginner believe they can achieve - and they can! There are 32 projects, gradually adding new techniques. I think in time, without perhaps realising, the beginner could produce some great pieces of art. I really appreciated the tracings which mean you don't feel pressure to become a great drawer and a great painter at the same time, and you don't have to face the daunting 'blank page' before you start painting. The pencil lines form part of the finished piece of work. The small sizes of paintings also help as a beginner as its easy to paint on your lap or a table, and there's no need to worry about mixing huge quantities of paint or stretching the paper. I have worked through the first 4 projects up to now, which varied in their outcomes but, while the finished pieces are reasonable, its important to remember the book is about learning, not making masterpieces. At the start of the book there is some information about equipment and colours but to be honest, I'd have liked a bit more info here, so I could identify types of brushes for example, and more on how to prepare and use a palette as I struggled preparing my colour mixes. I'd have also liked a page with a palette image of the colours which are used throughout the book, so when the artist states he uses Windsor Red, for example, I could find my closest match. One of the best things about this book is that rather than technique exercises you learn the technique within a piece of work, so you end with finished pieces of work, and you can see why the different techniques are important. I'm looking forward to continuing with the book, and it'd perhaps be interested to then go back to the beginning and compare my second attempts and see my improvements. I'd be very happy to recommend this book to a friend who wanted to learn to paint with watercolour, and learn the techniques ready to take on their own projects eventually.

https://notcompulsory.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/two-ready-to-paint-in-30-minutes.html

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The Artist

The original Ready to Paint series sold well to more experienced artists who might have been expected to dismiss it as 'jumped up painting by numbers'. A complete re-think has produced this development which is a whole new departure. In place of complete paintings there are 30-odd half-hour exercises that concentrate on a single element -skies, shadows, trees, rosebuds, seed heads or leaves. There is also more emphasis on technique and therefore on the learning process. It's definitely worth a look.

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The Leisure Painter

September 2017

Ready to Paint in 30 Minutes is a brand new series from Search Press aimed specifically at the complete beginner. The focus is to provide quick and easy instruction for anyone short on time, as each exercise is designed to take no more than 30 minutes. The series kicks off with two titles - Street Scenes by Grahame Booth and Flowers in Watercolour by Ann Mortimer. Street Scenes is broken down into eight chapters covering tone, colour, perspective, the wash. edge control, brush strokes, adding details and putting it all togethe. There are 32 easy exercises for you to work on, each of which covers an element of street scenes, such as doorways or people. The time is limited to 20 minutes spent on each and the size is limited to postcard size, which make them ideal for an A6 watercolour pad. Three finished paintings are demonstrated at the end of the book and are accompanied by actual size tracings to make it easier for the complete novice to get started with their painting.

Ann Mortimer will be well known to Leisure Painter readers and in her 30 minute book she covers five main aspects of painting flowers in watercolour: working with watercolour, watercolour techniques, colour and tone, form and details, and finally, flowers in context. Once again the size and time is limited for each exercise and the final section, also accompanied by actual size tracings, demonstrates three paintings that combine all the techniques learnt.

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Artbookreview.net

This is genuinely exciting evolution of a popular series. You'll be guided through some simple exercises and on to complete painting, gaining valuable insights that will develop and improve your skills.