Amazing and Beautiful Teaching Book
I am quite impressed with both the beauty and the content of this book. The author has true talent, and shares her knowlege in a way that makes learning to draw and paint wild animals in watercolor fun and exciting. She describes her teaching method as the 'fearless approach", where you make small decisions and keep building on what you have done. Her paintings are inspiring, and her glazing methods luminate.
Here is an overview of what the book teaches. There is a short chapter on drawing skills and making the proportions correct which is very helpful.
Here is what is covered in the book:
1. What to Paint and Where--drawing and painting from life, working in natural history museums, using photographs as references
2. Drawing--getting it right (such as how to proportion), the drawing process, demonstration: caribou, demonstration: gorilla
3. Color-color vs. value, achieving authentic color, creating luminous neutrals, creating depth.
4. Design--Placing our subject, impact from a distance, design principles
5. Watercolor Basics--Material, Materials for working in the field, watercolor paint properties, color mixing, watercolor techniques
6. Peggy's No-Fear Painting Process--overview, demonstration: snowy owl, when good paintings go bad: corrections, finishing a painting.
7. Pattern: counter-shading, spots and stripes, demonstration radiated tortoise, demonstration: zebra, total camouflage 8. fur: building texture, demonstration: black bear, demonstration: gray fox
9. Feathers: feather groups, demonstration: turquoise fronted parrot, demonstration: scarlet ibis
10. Portraiture: Capturing personality, demonstration: eyes, beaks and horns, demonstration: bald eagle
11. habitat: building figure and habitat, landscape, demonstration: great blue heron.
This book is worth the buy for it's beauty, but is also a wonderful book to learn to draw and paint wildlife, with watercolor glazing methods as the main media.