Discover Your World in Pen, Ink & Watercolor

by Claudia Nice

Achieve exciting effects with minimal effort and maximum "wow!" Pen and ink adds a whole new dimension to the loose, lovely look of watercolor. In this book, popular artists and bestselling author Claudia Nice shows you how to combine the best of both mediums, using pen and ink to turn up the texture and resonance in your paintings. Using straightforward techniques like bruising, spatter, stippling and pen blending, you'll discover an easy, expressive approach to painting. Learn how to add age to a quaint cottage. Invite viewers down a country lane. Evoke and owl's mottled feathers, the shine of fine china, the neon lights of the city, and more. Filled with the charm and passion of an artist's personal sketchbook, Discover Your World in Pen, Ink & Watercolor will inspire you to turn your everyday surroundings into fresh, heartfelt art.

Genres: Art

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 7, 2012

About the author

Claudia Nice, a native of the Pacific Northwest, attended the University of Kansas, but gained her realistic pen, ink, and watercolor techniques from sketching nature.

She spent over 15 years traveling across North America for Koh-I-Noor/Rapidograph and more recently Grumbacher as an art consultant, conducting seminars, work shops, and demonstrations at various schools, clubs, shops, and trade shows. Her relaxed, informative method of instruction is geared to put the beginner at ease, and encourage the seasoned artist to new heights.

Claudia has authored over a dozen successful books, including "Creating Textures in Pen & Ink With Watercolor." This fully illustrated text book was not only a Northlight "Book of the Month," but a best seller for F & W Publications. Her art work has won numerous awards and is often found in leading art instruction magazines.

Reviews

[Tandava Graham]

I didn't actually read all of this book -- it's a bit more realistic and less illustratey thank what I want to do, though it does seem to be an excellent reference for what it is.

Page 7, though, was worth a 5-star rating from me all on its own. It seems like everybody who teaches watercolors has their own favorite set of six colors that they recommend beginners start out with. This one, though, is the first one that inherently made sense to me, and the explanation was a major "click" moment for me. She suggests two of each primary color -- one warm and one cool. Each one will mix better towards its own side of the color wheel, though it will give muted or muddied colors on the other side. So suddenly it made more sense why I was having trouble getting, say, the green I wanted from a warm blue and a cool yellow. The following color chart across pages 8 and 9 is super handy, too.

[Barbara]

Again, an awesome resource for anyone wishing to improve on their art to another dimension. Going from oils to acrylics to watercolor, I was missing the details in my watercolor. This is the perfect combination of mediums.

[Susan]

This is a good resource on techniques for a variety of subjects and scenes. Nice looks at different types of buildings, urban settings, different, animals, etc. I am intrigued by Nice's combination of paint and ink. One point to be aware of is that Nice seems to assume some background already in ink and paint. E.g. she speaks of layering glazes as if the reader already has some sense of this technique.

Overall, a good book. Currently, I have a library copy but will likely buy my own copy to keep as a reference.