Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Book Review: URBAN WATERCOLOR SKETCHING by Felix Scheinberger

What an awesome little book on my favorite two subjects sketching and watercolors. I found many useful tips in this book but I really enjoyed the history of paint. It was incredible to read about where all of the beautiful colors came from and where they come from now. I was really surprised that to make purple in ancient times it was made from “the secretions of a small sea snail” and to make “3.5 ounces of dye 100,000 snails sacrificed their lives”. This purple was also the same dye the Romans used to dye their togas. Even more interesting was the color green. Green used to be made with toxic “metal oxide such as copper oxide dissolved in arsenic”, which meant that if a artist happened to lick or chew his paintbrush it would have cost them their lives. Shocking I know but I guess that is why green is always associated with poison. My favorite little fact in this whole book was that Napoleon Bonaparte’s choice of wallpaper killed him in the end because it was green; all of the wallpaper was “treated with a dye that contained arsenic”. The history of paint really surprised me I had no clue that there was so much history there and that in modern times we really take for granted the beautiful selections of paints that we have available to us today.

5/5 This is a really neat book. It is really pleasing to the eye with all the unusual ink and watercolor artwork. I liked the art because it was different and it kind of reminded me of one of my own styles that I like to use. I also discovered that this book gave me a confidence boost and I realize now that it is okay to have an unusual style because it is mine and I should just let go more and let the paint do what it does. I would highly recommend this book to watercolor artist because it made me want to be my unusual self because being different has it advantages when it comes to art.

G-rating for all readers alike

FTC-this novel was sent to me by Blogging for Books for review. I received no compensation for this review.
Amazon ~ Urban Watercolor Sketching: A Guide to Drawing, Painting, and Storytelling in Color by Felix Scheinberger
For more on this book:
Urban Watercolor Sketching Press ReleaseMore InfoAuthor Bio~Lizzie~

2 comments:

  1. Even in your small post you've packed a lot of information. Nice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Mystica it was a neat little book.

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