Watercolor Painting: A Comprehensive Approach to Mastering the Medium

During a Sabbath sermon not long ago, our Rabbi related a visit he had made to the studio of a silver-haired traditional potter in the Jugtown area of North Carolina. Marveling at the effortless way the man pulled a ball of clay into the most elegant shapes, the Rabbi asked him how long it took him to make the half dozen pots drying on his bench. "About 40 years" was the reply. Some of us are fortunate enough to discover during our youth a fascination and a challenge that will end up being a singular focus for the rest of our productive lives.Tom Hoffmann is one such person. His book Watercolor Painting: A Comprehensive Approach to Mastering the Medium contains the wisdom derived from close to 40 years of daily struggle and triumph applying pigment to wet paper. I do not paint with watercolors; my medium is wood. I bought this book because the author and I have been friends since school days, when we used to draw and doodle together to ease our boredom in class. His talent was obvious even back then, and led him to pursue art studies at Amherst College, where he plunged deeply into watercolor--a dip he has never toweled off from. I bought the book out of friendship and curiosity, but I ended up reading it from cover to cover because of what it contains. This is not your typical "How to Paint Good" book. While it discusses specific techniques, what it is really about is awareness: what is going through the mind of the watercolorist as he or she goes through the various stages of planning and executing a painting. This is a fascinating question regardless of what medium one works in, but especially in watercolor, where it's important to be poised to get things right the first time (since errors can rarely be fixed) and where a certain element of unpredictability and risk is always present. How does one prepare mentally to carry out actions with brush & pigment that will have the desired effect? And what effect are you trying to get? And how do you know when you've gotten it? This book provides guidelines along these lines that are specific, logical and straightforward. Students of watercolor painting will no doubt find this advice extremely useful. Non-painters like myself who love watercolor art will derive an inside understanding of how this difficult but magical medium can so elegantly capture the beauty of light and color of our natural world. The production of this book is first rate in every respect, starting with the writing. Simply put, Tom writes as he paints: there are no words, sentences or paragraphs that do not need to be there, and everything is clear & transparent. You will start reading and find yourself pulled along. The use of graphics to explain points in the text is highly effective, particularly when digitally-modified images of paintings are used to indicate alternative possibilities. The book contains over 100 thoughtfully selected examples of watercolors by the author and others, with attention directed to how features of these paintings illustrate the points in the text. The paintings are magnificent--my 90 year old Mother-in-Law picked up the book off our coffee table and spent the whole evening going through all the pictures. How cool is that? Get this book--you'll be glad you did.

I bought this book somewhat reluctantly because while the description and other reviews sounded good, the preview of the feature paintings didn't thrill me that much. To be honest, I'm not all that keen on the author's artistic style. And being an artist, I am nothing if not particular when it comes to visual things. However, I went ahead and bought it. And don't you know--once I dug in, I was compelled to read it cover to cover. Hoffman distills the craft of making good watercolor paintings to its fine essence, with concepts that are easy to wrap your brain around and easy to imagine applying in your own work. Every page offers some important little insight or key pointer that is presented in a way that I've not seen in other books--often delivered with some gently acerbic humor which I enjoyed. As I progressed through the book, Hoffman's paintings grew on me a bit because they were so illustrative of the concepts he covers. Of course, there is work by artists other than Hoffman, and I appreciated that because it helps to see works in different styles which all demonstrate a particular concept effectively but in different ways. It is a thinking book though...if you are looking for simple formulas for how to paint a good picture, you won't find them here. This book asks questions, explores possible answers, and expects you to consider its questions yourself to find your own answers. It doesn't lead you by the hand but it does provide an excellent framework for an approach to producing well planned and well thought out watercolors. The language and examples are simple, supported by narrative that cuts right to the chase with a minimum of fuss. I think this is a must-have book for every serious watercolorist who wants to improve their work through careful consideration of what they are doing with each brushstroke. It has earned a place as a top ten favorite in my extensive library of watercolor instruction books and has already informed my painting process.

i like his work so it’s nice to flip through... he gives some interesting advice on the medium. i’m new to watercolors and i don’t know how helpful this book is for a novice. i saw his work at a gallery on queen anne many years ago and his stuff is spectacular... not to mention he’s a down to earth kind of guy. he is inspiring... and i am blown away by his technique and eye for shapes and shadows. if you like his style- it would be nice to have this in your library.

This book came to me when I was researching framing watercolor paintings I had made as exercises that had turned out quite well. I’ve always painted to make things I want to have on my walls, in my space, and only second looked to someone else to judge. I was taking an extensive watercolor video course which taught a lot of technique and awareness of the medium, but did not speak to how to think of watercolor as a medium and a practice as a whole. Tom Hoffman’s book was mentioned, and I found it and started reading, expecting I would come back to it later to see what it filled in that the video course work had not. Instead it was a perfectly timed revelation on how to think in watercolor rather than just follow along in techniques. A truly exceptional book, one I found and read cover to cover before continuing on the course work, and it has enhanced every aspect of my painting. As I paint now instead of just following along with the instructor and imitating, I get to think on watercolor, evaluate shape and color and value and make much more intelligent decisions before and during painting. This is by far the best book I have found on thinking on watercolor as a separate and distinct medium. Highly recommended!

As a relative newbie to watercolor, I’ve collected many books already in an attempt to crack the code to understanding it better. This is one of the best I’ve read so far. It won’t teach you formulas on how to mix colors or step-by-step painting techniques. It won’t give you the fish. More importantly, Hoffman arms you with the right questions to ask yourself during the painting process which will lead to a better long term understanding. He teaches you how to fish.

This would have been a six-star review by page 80 -- but now that I've read it all, I maintain that it's a 10-star essential guide -- like an artist's retreat in the form of a book. Hoffman's advice is clear, direct, good-natured (I chuckled a couple of times), perceptive, and above all, helpful. He is clearly a highly talented teacher. Even artists not focussing on watercolour could benefit from it (my areas of interest have been watercolour pencil and pastels, primarily, but I am drawn to watercolour paint per se and want to explore it). Hoffman refers to his work as a form of 'realism', though I think most readers will find his works just this side of abstract: they often suggest reality rather than describe it. Paintings by other artists in the book vary in style. Hoffman's own paintings tend to be rather spongy or smooth in texture: colour must do everything; he has surprisingly little interest in tactile surfaces as against mass and form. But that is not the point. Whether you want to achieve a more precise realism or not, Hoffman will be your fearless guide up the Everest of confident watercolour painting. A great and rewarding book, with many questions that encourage thought and discourage a paint-by-numbers approach. If you want to be a better painter, buy it.

A must read for any watercolorist - thoughtful, philosophical and encouraging. Beautifully illustrated. A wholistic approach to watercolor rather than in depth technical how-to.

As a struggling watercolorist trying to learn to paint looser, I really appreciated this book. It may not be for everyone, but the techniques shared were very helpful to me. This really comes close to a five-star rating for me. The only reason for me not to give it a 5 was that I felt he could have provided better finished illustrations for some of the examples.