ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF COLOUR FOR WATERCOLOUR ARTISTS
Jan Hart

This book is as informative as it is refreshing and original. The overall idea is that you should be able to build a balanced palette to suit a wide variety of subjects. By taking the approach of analysis backward from the subject, Jan makes the whole process much more intelligible. She explains such things as washes, highlights, shadows and neutrals as well as the tricky topic of granulation from the point of view of their place in a finished work rather than just as technical exercises.

This is quite a hard book to explain in words because it's just so visual. Although Jan provides excellent descriptions and explanations of what she's doing, these are almost superfluous within the book because you can see immediately just from the illustrations what she's on about. In this way, it's possibly the most practical book there's ever been.

Colour is the artist's vocabulary and this book celebrates it loudly and clearly.

[VOTE]