Experienced watercolourist, Charles Evans brings us a first-aid kit with his new book, Charles Evans' Watercolour Rescue. Building on his wealth of experience, and answering frequently asked questions from his students, Charles offers tips and techniques on how to fix common watercolour problems and offers how to avoid them in the first place. Whether it's correcting muddy watercolour, removing 'cauliflowers' or preventing colours from bleeding into one another, Charles has the answer and a short demonstration to show how to prevent the problem occurring in future.
* Leisure Painter *
The history of art publishing is littered with hints and tips books, Q&A guides and troubleshooters. This is not dissimilar to all those approaches, but comes with a reassuring title and the provenance of a popular and established tutor. Charles' reputation rightly precedes him.
The first thing to say is that this is much more than just a lazy rehash of what has been done before, which my earlier description might have suggested. The implication in the title that things can and do go wrong is an honest one and we're starting from a point which doesn't pretend the opposite. What really marks the book out as different, though, is that the mistakes aren't just cartoon versions painted deliberately badly to make a point. In fact, just glancing through, you might wonder what exactly the problem is. This is because not everything is wrong at once. That inharmonious landscape looks relatively acceptable until Charles points out that the blue used for the water is too deep. The revised version, using slightly less pigment is better, but not the game changer you'll usually find in this kind of book.
There are 75 suggestions in this pocket-sized book, which has a nicely soft cover that makes reading without breaking the spine easy. None occupies more than 4 pages, and frequently less. It's succinct - identify, analyse, get out. Where the sections are longer, a little more work is required and there may be half a dozen or so stages. For the most part, it's a simple fix, largely because the error (if we can call it that) is relatively minor.
You could, I suppose, pack this with your painting kit and take it on location with you. Whether you really pull out a portable library on your travels, I doubt. I think the best approach would be to keep it by your chair or bed and dip into it. You'll have plenty of oh, that's where I'm going wrong moments and simply not make that mistake again. You might even get some ideas for new approaches as well. It's fun, and there's nothing wrong with that.
-- Henry Malt * Artbookreview.net *
With all books on troubleshooting, the elephant in the room is the 'wrong' image. Too often, it's a caricature that no-one, even a complete beginner picking up a brush for the first time, would produce. In this compact guide, Charles has hit the sweet spot so perfectly that it's sometimes hard to figure out what's actually wrong and you need to look, rather, for what's not quite right. Does that sound familiar? Welcome to the real world.
Charles is an experienced author and demonstrator and knows how to talk up, rather than down, to both aspiring and experienced artists. Here, he analyses many common problem areas, such as unconvincing trees, working from photographs, getting water to look like water and simply creating form and depth.
This is a book that's entirely relatable and works with real-world areas of difficulty rather than problems manufactured for a convenient appearance on the page.
-- Henry Malt * The Artist, February 2023 *
Each one of Charles's tips and tricks are so useful to know and help us through painting with watercolour. Having been a fan of Charles for many years, it is great to have his problem solving and help in a book. This is such a great book that I will be returning to again and again to find a solution to a watercolour problem and look for tips and tricks for watercolour painting.
It is so clearly laid out and explained in such a good, clear way that the advice can be applied easily. Colour mixing, composition, reflections, painting clouds, shapes are but a few of the subjects of his 70 tips and tricks. Simplifying a painting is one of Charles's recommendations that really resonates with me as I can often over paint a subject! I will be reading his book again and again, and will definitely be recommending it to my arty friends. Thanks for this, what a gem!
-- Melanie Bettridge * Customer Review *
I love this book, great quality, it has a strong wipe clean cover for any of those little mishaps. The book is easy to follow, it addresses the problem and gives a good explanation of how it can be fixed as well as alternative options too. Ideal book if you are struggling with a certain area or just want to give your picture that extra lift. Highly recommended.
-- Liz Pib * Customer Review *
This is an extremely useful book. I took up watercolour painting when covid first kicked off and found it to be a rewarding and, at times, frustrating hobby. I wish I'd had this book from the start to help me through some of the problems. It is written in a straightforward, no-nonsense way with plenty of step-by-step illustrations. If you are about to try watercolour painting for the first time the information on which, and how many, brushes and paints to buy will most probably save you more than the cost of the book. Charles Evans also has some instructional videos to paint along with on YouTube which are very good and full of sound advice. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
* Customer Review *
