Splash 12 The Best of Watercolor: Celebrating Artistic Vision

by Rachel Rubin Wolf (Editor)

The Splash series has earned a reputation as a premier showcase of contemporary watercolor. Year after year, artists and art enthusiasts look forward to its big, beautiful images, innovative approaches and insightful commentary. Continuing the tradition, this 12th edition celebrates artistic vision delivering a stunning diversity of ideas, inspiration, and breathtaking artin short, everything fans of this series have come to expect, including the wonderfully unexpected. Explore how artists seize upon moments of beauty and wonder, inject emotional content and personal interpretation, and translate it all into brilliant standout paintings. Impossibly red tomatoes picked fresh from the garden ... A chance pose by an impatient child model ... The simple view through a weathered door ... These are just a few of the "sparks" behind the more than 120 striking paintings on these pages. Captions offer insight from the artists themselves who share the approaches they use to bring their visions into focus. The late Henry Fukuhara painted the scene on page 90 when he was 96 years old, completely blind and bedridden, a profound testament to the power of an artist's vision. His "Don't be a reporter; be an entertainer." Page after page, Splash 12 offers up this kind of hard-earned wisdom, personal epiphanies and artist-to-artist advice for making others stop, look, and enjoy the view. Dive in, and see where 100 of today's brightest watercolor visionaries have taken this celebrated medium.

Genres: Art

143 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 2011

Reviews

[NinaB · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a book that teaches you how to paint, this is not the book for you. If you’re looking for inspiration, this may be the book for you. If you’re looking for a book with beautiful paintings, then look no further.

This has multiple samples of paintings from several artists with varied levels of expertise and styles. Though not all appealed to me, I like the diversity of approach to art.

[Parka · Rating 3 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

Splash 12 for me is a mixed bag to the Splash watercolour series.

This volume features 125 paintings from 100 artists. The variety is great. There are lots of style and you can see the differences in standard as well.

Some are really beautiful watercolour pieces with gorgeous details and wonderful colours. There are also some abstract pieces which are not too bad, except I don't know what they are drawing. I prefer more representational art. A few are not quite up to the mark in terms of technique, colours and composition, especially when surrounded by outstanding pieces.

The short artist commentary for each piece is always interesting to read. Good thing is quotes are no longer printed on the paintings, like they do in Volume 11.

The reproduction quality for a few pieces aren't quite good. They are probably scaled up larger than the original paintings. They are not pixelated but a bit soft.

I think the standard for the Splash series has dropped a bit. I can't quite feel the excitement and surprise from each new page.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about the Splash Books. Every watercolorists should have a copy of these books. You can learn so much just from looking at the work of others. I hope to have the entire series someday. I look at the pictures and read them over and over.

[Donlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best when it comes to watercolor.