As with so many of the books in my collection, it’s an Ebay purchase and, I have to confess, it’s right up there with the most money that I’ve ever paid for a book.

So. Is it worth it?

Well, I feel I have to be honest and say “it depends”!

While it contains a number of illustrated step by step demonstrations, I certainly wouldn’t classify this book as a ‘how to’ publication.

His first book, Watercolor Painting with Passion is a far more comprehensive ‘how to’ guide to his approach to painting, even if his distinctive sensibility and means of expression have developed considerably between these two publications. Reading his earlier book, and studying his most recent paintings, you can easily understand the trajectory of his artistic practice.

Even if you wish to paint in a similar vein as Alvaro Castagnet, I doubt this ‘Beyond Technique’ book would help you along that path any better than the many DVDs and YouTube videos that are readily available that are either free, or cost a fraction of what you might expect to pay for this book. For reference, Amazon is currently quoting £260 for this book. There is also one currently available on Ebay for £195 (which has been available at that price for quite some time now!). I’d like to make it clear that I paid considerably less for my copy, so unless you’re very impatient, it may be worth shopping around or biding your time!

I should point out that there is an immediately available E-version of this book available on Amazon for around £20s. I’m afraid I purposefully don’t link to this but should anyone be interested, I’m sure you won’t have any difficulty finding it!. Here’s a quick preview of the electronic version:

If it’s not a ‘how to’ book, what is it?

Well, I found it to be more like Alvaro’s personal artistic manifesto. While he’s obviously a master of ‘his’ technique – one that he has obviously evolved over the years – his main driving point is that it needs to come from within. What he expresses in his paintings is not a filter, veneer or technique to which he applies to every subject – but is an expression of his personal, emotional reaction to a subject.

Now this is a really moot point and I’m not well enough versed in the subtleties of philosophical debating to put all sides of the argument here. There’s no doubt however that he has developed a particularly strong and distinctive watercolour language that has become his signature.

In my opinion, what he does incredibly well is to take a scene, simplify and distil it and, through the mastery of his ‘technique’ heighten its impact to deliver his vision. When considering this, I’m attracted to both his vision, and the techniques he employs to realise it.

I know that ultimately, I need to be painting my vision, but I believe that this is developing and will continue to do so as long as I carry on looking, observing, learning from others and, of course, painting and painting and painting!

So. Why should anyone buy this book?

Well, I suppose it all depends on how much you enjoy his paintings and how much you think you may be able to learn from studying them.

I already know that this will be a book that I return to again and again. Not so much for the pearls of wisdom contained within the text, but to be able to immerse myself in such a wonderfully rich collection of paintings, from which I think I can learn a great deal.

Step-by-step demonstrations

There are a number of step-by-step demonstrations in the book so it seemed churlish not to have at least a little play with them.

This step-by-step painting of boats in Cadaques looked like the quickest and easiest of all the demos and, as time was most certainly against me this week, this was an all important factor!

Here’s how I got along, following the instructions as closely as possible!

I was quite pleased with how this turned out and, as a visitor commented, it’s a little more colourful than my usual fare! So, feeling quite encouraged and still with a little time left to spare, I used the back of one of my many failures to endeavour to replicate one of the quick sketches featured in the book.

When this book first arrived with me, it was in ‘mint’ condition. After only a few days, however, it’s been well-thumbed and is already sporting a dashing array of paint splatters! I doubt that this won’t have done anything for the resale value of this book, but fortunately the real measure of this book’s value to me goes far beyond pounds and pence!

Online workshops with Alvaro Castagnet

Should anyone be interested, there are some links below to posts where I share my experience and my paintings from some of the online workshops that I’ve taken with Alvaro Castagnet:

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After having watched and thoroughly enjoyed the Joseph Zbukvic masterclass on ‘Colour in your life’ I decided to take the plunge and invest in one of his DVDs. I was keen to pick up the DVD entitled ‘Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolour’ as it shares a similar title to his book Mastering Atmosphere and Mood in Watercolor.

The book is out of print and, whilst I’ve always kept an eye out for it, copies usually change hands at ridiculous prices – often in excess of £200 – on ebay. I have however read a copy of the book and it is without doubt one of the best instruction manuals on the art of watercolour that I’ve read to date. The book goes into great detail about the approach that he has developed over many many years of practice and is explained through the use of he refers to as ‘the watercolour clock’. This analogy takes into account how wet the paper is (dry, damp, moist, wet) and what’s the consistency of paint (tea, coffee, milk, cream, butter). By mastering all the possible combinations of these elements, you will be armed with the necessary skills to control every ‘edge’ and effect needed to give your paintings a true sense of atmosphere and mood.

The book really is worthy of close study, and an entire review separate to this article, but suffice to say that I thought because the book and DVD shared similar titles, that they would cover similar ground.

Whilst this isn’t the case­, the DVD is still a great investment and a joy to watch. I’ve read lots of  instruction manuals and whilst I’ve enjoyed many, I find it particularly valuable to hear the live commentary alongside seeing the artist at work. I’m fascinated by everything from how the brush is held, to the colour mixing, the confidence of the brushwork and, in particular, how scenes are simplified to focus attention and tell the story. The DVD follows the artist as he creates 3 paintings of very different scenes and does a single sketch. The sketch and one of the paintings are in and around the fish market in Venice and, whilst this first image isn’t either of them – it does I hope give a flavour of the amazing location and the vibrancy of Zbukvic’s treatment. The second image is an actual still from the DVD.

If I were to have any criticism of the film, it’s that I’d also like to see a work developed from a completely blank sheet of paper. In the case of the three painting demonstrations, the action begins at the point he starts to paint, with the composition already decided and the planned painted sketched out in some detail. I think I’d also find it really valuable to see and hear about the process right from the outset. That said, I’ve already stored up a whole host of comments and phrases that I’m hoping I’ll be able to summon up as and when I need them –but I won’t know until I’m deep in the heat of the moment of my next painting.

I’ve also, since buying this DVD, received another Joseph Zbukvic DVD as a present, Watercolour on Location which I’ve yet to watch but am already looking forward to spending some time with! I’ll post another review up in due course.

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While I prefer the looseness and immediacy of the Edwards Seago and Wesson, what I love about Roland Hilder’s work is the layering of washes. In trying to emulate these, it may also help instill in me some of the necessary discipline to wait for one passage to dry before applying the next as my own impatience has ruined many an effort.

For this exercise I’ve photographed my work at each of the same stages as does Hilder in the book. From the outset, it wasn’t my intention to make an exact replica but to create a similar feeling of atmosphere.

Stages 1 and 2

After doing an approximate sketch, in which I omitted a couple of details for the sake of simplicity, I was ready to apply the first wash, which was primarily made of raw sienna with touch of burnt sienna, although I replaced the burnt sienna with some light red. Hilder then lifted some of the wash out in the sky to the left of centre, and charged the sky to the right of centre with some more intense burnt sienna/light red.

Unfortunately I allowed my wash to dry out too much so when I tried to intensify the raw sienna/light red I ended up with some hard edges. After a couple of attempts to rectify this, by wetting and lifting off, in an ever larger area, I was almost ready to give up and start again! Following a couple of deep breathes, and standing back a little, I decided that the whole wash was too intense. With nothing to lose, I soaked the paper and wiped it over with some kitchen towel to lift off much of the colour and quickly charged the area right of centre with some light red. It wasn’t as I’d wanted it, (or I’m sure as Hilder would have wanted it!) but at least I felt that I’d retrieved it sufficiently to carry on.

The second wash called for an overall treatment of cobalt blue with monestial blue (which I’m neither familiar with nor in possession of, so I substituted a touch of payne’s grey for good measure).

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I came across this gem of a book when looking for a present for one of those ‘hard to buy for’ friends and liked it so much that I had to get a copy for myself. I think that the original story is a Chinese parable and in this instance a new text was written by John Kuramoto with illustrations by Jon J Muth. The story tells of a stonecutter who wants to be everything he is not and has to learn the hard way that what he really wants to be is exactly who he is.

The text is only one or two sentences to a page with an accompanying illustration. The images are delightful, all monochrome and wonderfully succinct. The book itself is really nicely produced, small (125mm x 165mm), hardback, printed on gloss paper and is a real pleasure to hold and read.

The reason I’m mentioning this in my Brushes with Watercolour is because after buying the book I looked up Jon J Muth and came across a brief video about the artist and his work on this particular book. The film and book have a similar feel and exude a zen like stillness and calmness. What I really enjoyed was, after have seen the illustrations in such a small book, being given a glimpse in the video as to how they are produced. He used black ink and an absolutely enormous Chinese squirrel hair brush – the sort you can barely get your hand around.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFfs1iWrlV0]

It was great to see the artist’s assuredness and confidence with the brush and, in the book, how economically he distills the essentials to tell the story and leave you with images that live on in the mind. I’d love to be able to exert a similar distillation of unnecessary details on my own work. Since first buying this book as a present I’ve bought it for quite a few people and it’s one of those presents that’s a real pleasure to give. Should you ever be short of ideas, you can pick up a copy of Stonecutter on Amazon.

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