Entrancing Watercolor Book --loose syle.
I highly recommend this book to anybody who loves watercolors or wants to learn or improve on watercolors. John Pike is truly amazing at simplifying and bringing radiance to his paintings. I love the way Pike writes to his students and tells about his travels and experiences as an artist. He holds nothing back in his demonstrations, and it is as if Pike is standing in the room with you. There is an interview with John Pike and a chapter on materials and set-up of the pallete, then sketches of the gallery paintings that are shown at the end of the book. Then, 13 WONDERFUL demonstrations on landscape painting. He takes complex scenes and explains how to simplify them into something majestic. His step-by-step demonstrations and instructions are easy to follow. The last chapter is a mesmerizing chapter of a gallery of paintings by John Pike along with detailed explanations of how he approached the painting and the steps he took to paint it.
John Pike has a beautiful looseness and simplicity to his paintings and also uses a lot of light and contrast. This book is outstanding in every way, and ranks high above some other more recently published watercolor books that are higher priced. It's a keeper.
