Painting Expressive Landscapes

Introduction
Let it Flow
First things first
Watercolour techniques
Painting media
Colour
Surfaces and tools
Expressive techniques
Creating successful landscapes
Inspiration and image
Composition
Woodland with Silver BirchStep-by-step project
Wayside VergeStep-by-step project
Mixed media
Experiments with mixed media
Beach at SunsetStep-by-step project
Imagination and abstraction
Digital art
Afterword
Index

About Carole Robson

Carole was brought up in a rural area of North Staffordshire. She moved South to study for her degree and post graduate qualifications at Central St. Martin's School of Art and subsequently freelanced as a book illustrator for major London Publishers. She worked on a wide variety of commissions and her illustrations are published worldwide. 

Carole is a mixed media painter and art tutor, working from her studio in Laddingford, Kent, she exhibits in London and the South East of England. Her paintings are driven by strong feelings about ecology and man's impact on the environment; her desire is to elevate nature's case and celebrate meadows and wild places. She has visited the Kent Wildlife reserve, Marden Meadow regularly for over thirty years, which is a rare, unimproved hay meadow connecting us back to a pre-industrial past. Distillation of these observations, memory and imagination form the basis of many of her landscapes. While inspired by all nature she particularly enjoys weedy patches and the fragility of weathered plants, which retain a kind of nobility in their structure even in their dry, decaying state. 

Carole is a mixed media painter with a first love of watercolour. She is experimental, combining media, resist techniques and a variety of mark making. In the last few years Carole has brought digital art into her practice and is frequently re-inspired by the new colour combinations or abstractions achieved.

The SAA

In this exciting book, Carole uses watercolour and mixed media to create a huge variety of effects that reflect the changing moods of the landscape.

Carole offers a plethora of different ways to interpret shape, colour and interplay. There's explanation at every stage and the book is as practical as it is imaginative.

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Customer review

A very interesting book, colourful illustrations and plenty of instructions. A different type of painting to what I am used to. I like watercolour and this has bought a different way of handling it to me. If you want to try something different this is the book for you. I tried to follow one of the exercises, quite pleased with the result but I think I need more practice! 

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Kreativreview.blogspot

Carole Robson masters the art of translating nature scenes into atmospheric, colourful, semi-abstract landscapes. The beginner, but above all the advanced painter will find many suggestions with the help of well-known painting techniques and modern materials. Forward-looking is the integration of traditional methods of paintings into digital art.

Read the full review here.

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www.karenplatt.co.uk

A hallmark of this work is semi-abstract landscapes in watercolour and mixed media. The latter is water-soluble media and collage. The book is well illustrated with wonderful paintings, which should offer much inspiration. Flowing media are used to capture the essence of the natural landscape. You'll find information on paint consistency; the usual watercolour techniques such as wet-in-wet and washes; pigments and their properties; colour and tools. There is also a section on 'expressive techniques'. The author states these are not new and began with Turner, but mention should also be made of Ann Blockley, who has made many of these techniques her own. I love Carole's paintings of her local landscape, although her work is very reminiscent of Ann's to a point. Yet there is much here that is Carole, and for that I am glad. She is an experimenter and is pushing the boundaries. I like the abstracts and the use of digital art too. There are three step-by-step projects: Woodland with Silver Birch; Wayside Verge and Beach At Sunset, which explore the techniques. Fabulous images and easy to use.

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The Artist, July 2019

Book titles can be a mixed blessing, but this one sums up Carole Robson's approach admirably. These are interpretations and expressions of the artist's creativity. Any messiness is entirely intentional. They're exciting, intriguing and, frankly, fun. Techniques include the usual suspects - salt, scratching out, masking fluid etc. A section on mixed media brings pastels and acrylic mediums into play. Carole's work is results-driven and those results are extraordinary. The book is written as a course, with lessons, exercises and demonstrations and this works well for the technical aspects. As for creativity, you should ideally bring your own but, if you like the idea, that shouldn't be difficult.

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Leisure Painter, May 2019

Experienced artist and teacher, Carole Robson combines watercolour with other water-soluble media and collage to paint her expressive, semi-abstract landscapes. In her her book Painting Expressive Landscapes, she describes in a clear and well-illustrated text how to build up your work - from basic techniques to more innovative processes to unleash your creativity. Three detailed step-by-step projects are included, featuring a woodland scene with silver birch, a beach at sunset and a wayside verge. Much of Carole's work is influenced by the changing landscape and this book, for all abilities, will help you to see what's around you with new eyes and provide you with the techniques to bring it to life. 

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Artbookreview.net

'If youre interested in exploring the outer reaches of the possibilities of watercolour, this is the book for you. If, at the same time, you want to keep things creative and are doing this for something more than just technical curiosity, please form an orderly queue. Whats truly remarkable about Caroles work is that its always the creative dog wagging the technical tail and not, as can so easily happen, the other way round.'

Read the full review here.