Yesterday night I started to practice and improve my watercolor skills. I always wanted to learn watercolor and couple months ago I bought this book called ''The Joy of Watercolor'' by Emma Block. She had this different way of showing the techniques than other watercolor books that I have been comparing. Also her illustrations were so cute and felt so close to my taste as well. In the beginning of the book she gives some information of materials and techniques with tips that will be good to know before starting with the watercolor project exercises. These watercolor exercises are categorized with three levels which are beginner, intermediate and advanced which is a good thing because it gives you a direction. Other than that these paintings are so inspiring which makes it more exciting and motivational for practicing a medium. The way she explains the steps of the painting is easy to understand. I just started with the first painting and the only thing for now made me think there were some parts that the technique didn't work and I couldn't understand why which made me feel stuck. For example I used the salt on the wet paint and it didn't work even I waited so long for the paint to get dry. So I tried to check on the internet to find the reason. I guess it is not enough just to learn from the book, you will need to have extra resource to solve some of the questions you have. Also there was another thing that made it a little complex. I already had a set of watercolor paint and this book's exercises requires you to have specific colors for you to have in order to do those paintings. So for that I just try to be as close as I can with my own paints and choose my own reference and interpret in my way which also helped me to have my own paintings instead of just copying her work. Because I also want to have my own paintings as well when I am practicing.
Overall the book is nice and helpful. I like that it gives you guides with different subjects and shows you what kind of technique you can use.
I have failed in the salt technique but tried on a another paper to see if it will work and it did! So it is just trial and error. I am so excited to just keep painting and learning this cool media:) I happily recommend anyone who is interested to learn watercolor with exercises. But I also think you will need to just practice practice practice. The book alone won't be enough, you might as well check video tutorials or skillshare classes to understand the way watercolor works. But This book is nice to start with;) Just wanted to share my experience with watercolor. I will be sharing my experience more in my blog in the future as well. So maybe this will help you to see how to learn watercolor with me.
I wish you have a nice day...
