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No Excuses Watercolor: Painting Techniques for Sketching and Journaling
I can't control the paint.
It's not colorful enough.
It's intimidating!
With the fun and easy techniques in Gina Rossi Armfield's No Excuses Watercolor, your excuses for not painting with watercolor don't stand a chance! As you try the demonstrations and exercises, you'll learn the techniques and tricks necessary to achieve amazing, colorful results in your artist's sketchbook.
After getting to know your materials, you'll try your hand at thirteen exercises that will help train your hand, and help you identify and refine your artistic style. Along the way, you'll get tips and suggestions for adding journaling and writing to your art. Finally, you'll find an inspirational resource guide packed with reference photos, starter sketches, color palettes, journaling prompts and more to help you fill your watercolor journal!
Grab your sketchbook and watercolors--it's time to paint, no excuses!
- 22 demonstrations for sketching and watercolor painting.
- 13 exercises for practicing backgrounds, focal images, color mixing, layering and details.
- 13 resource sections loaded with journaling and painting prompts to keep you inspired.
It's not colorful enough.
It's intimidating!
With the fun and easy techniques in Gina Rossi Armfield's No Excuses Watercolor, your excuses for not painting with watercolor don't stand a chance! As you try the demonstrations and exercises, you'll learn the techniques and tricks necessary to achieve amazing, colorful results in your artist's sketchbook.
After getting to know your materials, you'll try your hand at thirteen exercises that will help train your hand, and help you identify and refine your artistic style. Along the way, you'll get tips and suggestions for adding journaling and writing to your art. Finally, you'll find an inspirational resource guide packed with reference photos, starter sketches, color palettes, journaling prompts and more to help you fill your watercolor journal!
Grab your sketchbook and watercolors--it's time to paint, no excuses!
- 22 demonstrations for sketching and watercolor painting.
- 13 exercises for practicing backgrounds, focal images, color mixing, layering and details.
- 13 resource sections loaded with journaling and painting prompts to keep you inspired.
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
February 5, 2017
1.5 stars. I really can't recommend this - glad I got it from the library. Definitely not worth $12/Kindle or $17/paperback from Amazon. This felt more like a series of vaguely connected blog posts than a book.
December 29, 2017
I had low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised by No Excuses Watercolor: Painting Techniques for Sketching and Journaling!
First, the caveats. At $12 and $14 on Kindle and in paperback, respectively, this thin, 128-page book is ridiculously overpriced at list. Find it at a deep discount, or check it out from the library. Now, for a timeless and classic reference, an art technique book might be worth shelling out for, but you need to be aware that this isn't one of them. This does not teach a formal, structured, art school approach to watercolor techniques, but rather a quick-and-dirty shortcut to get you up and painting.
Depending on what you're looking for, that last part may be a negative, but there are a lot of formal, structured, art school approaches to learning a classical painting form, and while books aren't really one of those ways, there are many that make a sporting attempt. This book isn't really for artists (or if it is, it's for very, very meek artists who are terrified of even attempting to work outside of their own medium, which, frankly, doesn't really sound like any artist I've ever known). Instead, it's for wanna-be artists, hobbyists, people without much time to actually go to an art class (let alone art school), those who think they "can't draw" so therefore could not possibly paint, and the growing hordes of folks delving into the wild and wonderful world of mixed media art via visual journaling, Zentangles, the new bullet planner craze, or mail art. These are folks who don't want to become watercolor painters per se, they just wanna make some reasonable-looking paintings using watercolors. And they might, like me, fetishize art supplies a bit (you should see me when my monthly Sketchbox subscription arrives in the mail: "Ooo! Toys!"), enjoying the process as exploration and play more than the achievement of the final result.
And this is where and how No Excuses Watercolors excels. It spends a good amount of time talking about materials, but it's all practicality and little theory. There are plenty of useful photographs, such as the steps for how to refill a fountain pen, and multiple-manufacturer color charts demonstration granulation and transparency. To alleviate the "but I can't draw!" apprehension, you're given permission right off the bat to trace your subject matter if you'd like and to work from a photograph, and it emphasizes working with contour drawings throughout, which are quick, require little skill, and yet still manage to give very nice results when filled in with watercolors. It appeals to the mixed mediaist directly by incorporating colored pencils, oil pastels, and the addition of handwritten snippets of poetry or journaling. And it preemptively forgives "mistakes" by showing examples which purposely include them; the entire approach throughout is loose and somewhat impressionistic, not tightly realistic and "properly" executed.
Fully the last third of the book is a series of "inspirations". The most useful part of this section is that it provides a reference photo, a color palette (with pigment names), a contour photo, and then a final painting. It's a great way to walk through the process; you'll get better at making contour drawings and isolating colors, and you can even copy/print out a contour drawing and practice painting right on it. However, a lot of this section is wasted by pages and pages of "suggested quotes" you can add to your finished paintings; I'm pretty sure that if I never read an amputated Rumi or Maya Angelou poem again, it'll be too soon.
For the audience I described (in the third paragraph, above), this book really does work as advertised: it minimizes the avoidance excuses the aspiring watercolor dabbler might invoke, while enticing him to fully jump in, and with little effort or risk, achieve very rewarding results.
First, the caveats. At $12 and $14 on Kindle and in paperback, respectively, this thin, 128-page book is ridiculously overpriced at list. Find it at a deep discount, or check it out from the library. Now, for a timeless and classic reference, an art technique book might be worth shelling out for, but you need to be aware that this isn't one of them. This does not teach a formal, structured, art school approach to watercolor techniques, but rather a quick-and-dirty shortcut to get you up and painting.
Depending on what you're looking for, that last part may be a negative, but there are a lot of formal, structured, art school approaches to learning a classical painting form, and while books aren't really one of those ways, there are many that make a sporting attempt. This book isn't really for artists (or if it is, it's for very, very meek artists who are terrified of even attempting to work outside of their own medium, which, frankly, doesn't really sound like any artist I've ever known). Instead, it's for wanna-be artists, hobbyists, people without much time to actually go to an art class (let alone art school), those who think they "can't draw" so therefore could not possibly paint, and the growing hordes of folks delving into the wild and wonderful world of mixed media art via visual journaling, Zentangles, the new bullet planner craze, or mail art. These are folks who don't want to become watercolor painters per se, they just wanna make some reasonable-looking paintings using watercolors. And they might, like me, fetishize art supplies a bit (you should see me when my monthly Sketchbox subscription arrives in the mail: "Ooo! Toys!"), enjoying the process as exploration and play more than the achievement of the final result.
And this is where and how No Excuses Watercolors excels. It spends a good amount of time talking about materials, but it's all practicality and little theory. There are plenty of useful photographs, such as the steps for how to refill a fountain pen, and multiple-manufacturer color charts demonstration granulation and transparency. To alleviate the "but I can't draw!" apprehension, you're given permission right off the bat to trace your subject matter if you'd like and to work from a photograph, and it emphasizes working with contour drawings throughout, which are quick, require little skill, and yet still manage to give very nice results when filled in with watercolors. It appeals to the mixed mediaist directly by incorporating colored pencils, oil pastels, and the addition of handwritten snippets of poetry or journaling. And it preemptively forgives "mistakes" by showing examples which purposely include them; the entire approach throughout is loose and somewhat impressionistic, not tightly realistic and "properly" executed.
Fully the last third of the book is a series of "inspirations". The most useful part of this section is that it provides a reference photo, a color palette (with pigment names), a contour photo, and then a final painting. It's a great way to walk through the process; you'll get better at making contour drawings and isolating colors, and you can even copy/print out a contour drawing and practice painting right on it. However, a lot of this section is wasted by pages and pages of "suggested quotes" you can add to your finished paintings; I'm pretty sure that if I never read an amputated Rumi or Maya Angelou poem again, it'll be too soon.
For the audience I described (in the third paragraph, above), this book really does work as advertised: it minimizes the avoidance excuses the aspiring watercolor dabbler might invoke, while enticing him to fully jump in, and with little effort or risk, achieve very rewarding results.
March 5, 2016
This book is easy to read, well-illustrated, and to the point, but it may be a bit light for those who want to learn the art of watercolor painting. Granted that it is specifically for those interested in sketching and journaling, but I needed much more guidance to get myself started!
May 14, 2016
Excellent explanations!
For me (someone who only dabbles in watercolor as a hobby) this book was very helpful. All needed supplies are included for each "tutorial", plus written instructions with photos. I am encouraged to keep painting!!
For me (someone who only dabbles in watercolor as a hobby) this book was very helpful. All needed supplies are included for each "tutorial", plus written instructions with photos. I am encouraged to keep painting!!
January 11, 2018
Perhaps a bit too basic considering what I expected. Also, I expected a bit more skill from the author. Regardless, the book can provide an extra boost of motivation and self-confidence when needed and it did help me attenuate some of my doubts and apprehensions regarding my own work.
April 9, 2020
Helpful and Informative
This is a detailed starter book...great for beginners. It is full of great information! If you’re interested in getting started in watercolors this would be a great asset!
This is a detailed starter book...great for beginners. It is full of great information! If you’re interested in getting started in watercolors this would be a great asset!
November 16, 2021
Excellent starters book
I really liked the book, although I have been water coloring for years I still learned a lot. You are never too smart to learn
. I prefer smart to old. Good book.
I really liked the book, although I have been water coloring for years I still learned a lot. You are never too smart to learn
. I prefer smart to old. Good book.
April 26, 2020
Great Ideas
Perfect for a beginner, and a wonderful refresher for those of us who have been painting for a while and feel like you're in a rut.
Perfect for a beginner, and a wonderful refresher for those of us who have been painting for a while and feel like you're in a rut.
May 28, 2020
A great guide for the watercolour beginner.
July 7, 2020
It was okay. It wasn't what I was looking for. The style isn't very appealing to me.
June 29, 2021
I learned a few new techniques and enjoyed the art with and without words.
July 24, 2022
The first chapters that dwell mostly on technique, tools, were good. But I don't care much for journelling all over my paintings, and the lessons/illustrations were a bit beyond beginners.
May 14, 2024
easy steps
August 10, 2025
Helpful suggestions for getting started when a blank page is looking at you. Did not really teach any new techniques and may be frustrating for a beginner.
January 7, 2024
Love that the line drawings are included for tracing purposes.
March 26, 2016
Wonderful and unique book!
Really different watercolor book! Teaches you a lot of the basics of watercolor, as well as some techniques I have never seen in any of the 100+ other watercolor books in my library. I love how the author combines watercolor and journal techniques. Lots of great exercises in the back of the book, most suitable for beginners! While not too in depth on the basics, there is plenty here to get a beginner started and to give them a real feeling of success when completing the project exercises. Wonderful addition to my library. Highly recommended!!
Really different watercolor book! Teaches you a lot of the basics of watercolor, as well as some techniques I have never seen in any of the 100+ other watercolor books in my library. I love how the author combines watercolor and journal techniques. Lots of great exercises in the back of the book, most suitable for beginners! While not too in depth on the basics, there is plenty here to get a beginner started and to give them a real feeling of success when completing the project exercises. Wonderful addition to my library. Highly recommended!!
August 31, 2016
Great Inspiration
Love this book. The author shows you everything you need to know to create beautiful watercolor art. She also adds poetry from different writers that reference the photo for each lesson. Even if you know how to use watercolor the author has great techniques of her own that she shares. This book has really helped me with my artistic block I've had. The book is just fun to paint along with. Great book.
Love this book. The author shows you everything you need to know to create beautiful watercolor art. She also adds poetry from different writers that reference the photo for each lesson. Even if you know how to use watercolor the author has great techniques of her own that she shares. This book has really helped me with my artistic block I've had. The book is just fun to paint along with. Great book.
June 29, 2016
Good introduction
There are many exercises sections in this book. Each section begins with a photo reference, the color palette needed, a drawing sketch of the reference photo, and the final watercolor version. The instructions were good but not in depth. So in a nutshell, good intro to watercolor but not enough, in my opinion, to get you going. I'm a novice artist.
There are many exercises sections in this book. Each section begins with a photo reference, the color palette needed, a drawing sketch of the reference photo, and the final watercolor version. The instructions were good but not in depth. So in a nutshell, good intro to watercolor but not enough, in my opinion, to get you going. I'm a novice artist.
July 3, 2016
You may already own a better one.
This is a reprise of many other (better) watercolor instruction books, with a great deal on materials. Heavy on the ground earth pigments from Daniel Smith. Uninspired exercises with photo, line drawing, and not very good paintings. Sorry I bought it!
This is a reprise of many other (better) watercolor instruction books, with a great deal on materials. Heavy on the ground earth pigments from Daniel Smith. Uninspired exercises with photo, line drawing, and not very good paintings. Sorry I bought it!
October 2, 2016
Good beginner intro to watercolor for sketching
Focus is on fun and getting right to it without too much technical stuff. Won't teach you color theory, long list of painting techniques; just practical stuff to get you started playing with watercolor.
Focus is on fun and getting right to it without too much technical stuff. Won't teach you color theory, long list of painting techniques; just practical stuff to get you started playing with watercolor.
October 23, 2016
Very instructional
The exercises are easy to follow. The techniques are explained well and the workflow builds up to more complex projects. I love the inspirational quotes and images detailed at the end. Great for every age.
The exercises are easy to follow. The techniques are explained well and the workflow builds up to more complex projects. I love the inspirational quotes and images detailed at the end. Great for every age.
June 6, 2016
Helps you understand the water color process
I especially like the ideas section in the back. The idea of journaling your feelings with paint and quotes is compelling.
I especially like the ideas section in the back. The idea of journaling your feelings with paint and quotes is compelling.
August 4, 2016
This is a cool book about watercolors.
November 30, 2018
A good book for beginners. The writer explains interesting techniques in an easy way.
December 7, 2016
Fun Book
I liked the way the book presented solid information along with ideas and inspiration to loosen up and have fun with your painting!
I liked the way the book presented solid information along with ideas and inspiration to loosen up and have fun with your painting!
January 12, 2017
Great!
This is a great reference for starters and people who want to find reference and practice. I will be looking into the online content.
This is a great reference for starters and people who want to find reference and practice. I will be looking into the online content.
September 18, 2017
Love this book. Way above my no-skill level, even, but still inspiring. I love what she showed with blown watercolor and also with mixing text and images. Might need to buy this one:>)
October 18, 2017
Great resource for anyone looking for instructions or inspiration on next projects.
January 21, 2018
A great resource for the watercolor beginner just starting out. Great hints and step by step directions. Makes me want to grab my watercolors and go paint right now.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews