Painting Watercolors That Sparkle with Life

by Cindy Agan

Book Overview

With this can't-miss title Cindy Agan shows artists how to paint subjects so warm and real that they touch the hearts and minds of viewers. Her irresistible paintings of children, cats, flowers and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581803753
• ISBN13: 9781581803754
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Northlight
• Length: 143 Pages
• Weight: 1.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.9" x 11.3"

Customer Reviews

Simply The Best!!

Having bought many watercolour books over the years and not getting far due to poor instructions I decided to paint in a more forgiving medium. Then I saw the cover of Cindy Agans book. I was blown away with the painting on the cover - it looked so realistic. I couldn't believe it was watercolour. So I decided to have one more go at watercolours. In this instance you can definately tell a book by its cover!. Cindy Agan has obviously put her heart and soul into her book - sharing all she has learned, by trial and error over many years (being self-taught) she holds nothing back from the reader. Her colour swatches, hints and tips alone are worth the price of the book. I've been able to follow all the demonstrations with ease. I am so pleased with my end results and feel confident to now paint portraits, animals, flowers, etc. This book is my 'Bible' - I love to read parts of it every day. I highly recommend this beautiful book. Cindy Agan - Thank you!! Please, please write another book a.s.a.p. You have brought joy to my life.

A must-have for any serious watercolourist

I have owned this book for over a year, and it is a mainstay for me, which I constantly refer back to again and again. The author is a tremendous teacher (and an inspiration with her beautiful work), and her approach is easy to understand in her step-by-step demonstrations. I therefore strongly disagree with Pricilla Goodwin's critique that this book was unhelpful, and left out essential steps in the painting process. You can tell by the many other critiques that readers have used her step-by-step process to paint a subject successfully for the very first time, and that says everything to me. The author covers all of the challenging subjects in this book from fur to grass to flowers, to backgrounds, as well as covering techniques such as glazing, masking, and feathering among others. She also discusses the emotions an artist must deal with when facing criticism when presenting their work, which can be a tremendous challenge for many. I cannot think of a single point that the author did not cover in this well-thought-out book, and I have been painting and studying watercolour seriously for the past 6 years. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone who wants to achieve realism in their paintings. My only disclaimer is this: as with any book, you can buy it and let it sit on your shelf, and it won't do anything for you. That's usually when people blame the book instead of themselves for not achieving their desires of improvement. However, if you buy this book, read it, and practice from it you will be very pleased with the results you have achieved with the help of this gifted artist. I hope that we will see more books from Cindy Agan in the future!

Painting Watercolors That Sparkle With Life

Being entirely new to painting (I joined an Art Class in Sept2004) I bought this book in November and to my delight found the step by step instructions clear, concise, & totally comprehensive. My first project was to follow the demonstration of painting the Black Cat, which I adapted to copy a photo of Penny once a member of our family. When a friend of an artist saw it she exclaimed "You feel you can reach out and stroke the fur". This book has been so useful to me and is one I can refer to time and time again.

An absolute must have...

I first came across this book in my local library, I was fascinated with how realistic the paintings looked, but mainly how smooth they were. I had no idea that such effects could be achieved using watercolors. The start of the book goes into great detail as to what equipment and colors are used, I found the color charts very useful since some of the names of colors were not known in my country, so I just took the book to my local art supplier and showed them the color I wanted. My first attempt was a portrait. Even though I sometimes doubted one or two of the washes had to add, I stuck with the program and followed the examples to the letter, and it worked, I was amazed at the end result, especially since I'd never painted a portrait in my life before. As a complete novice I found the examples easy to follow and the techniques used very useful, infact I refer to this book for tips when doing most of my paintings now. I really can't recommend this book enough, even when I'm not painting I sometimes pick it up and read it for the feel good factor. Let's see more from Cindy Agan.

Who knew I could paint!!!

On the recommendation of a friend, I read this book in hopes of expanding my experience painting into watercolor. Immediately, I could not believe the realism of Cindy's work! I found the concepts easy to understand and, as a first time watercolorer, was able to produce my own beautiful painting. This book was stunning visually and very helpful.