The Innovative Artist: Capturing Light: Creating Radiant Landscapes in Watercolour

Artist and debut author Beale shares her processes for creating watercolor landscapes that focus on the dynamic influence of light on natural features. Drawing inspiration from Wiltshire in southwest England, the author analyzes the way light behaves, depending on time of day, cloud cover, and other atmospheric conditions. The book highlights particular techniques for representing mist, storms, shadows, and sunbeams. Beale discusses her favorite supplies and paint colors as well as her use of reference photographs to document landscapes from different angles and to identify focal points and areas of light and shade. Using undiluted colors as a substitute for black paint, making pencil sketches to plan compositions, and creating bold highlights by preserving glimpses of the white paper underneath are some of Beale’s most helpful tips. Equally valuable are her suggestions for ways to create textures with salt and plastic wrap. This book provides readers with nine example painting projects to try out methods for depicting sunsets, shadowy woods, stormy weather, and waterscapes.