Painting Successful Watercolours from Photographs

Geoff’s books are a great companion with his vast online tutorials

Geoff Kersey is one of my favorite landscape artists and if you check out his web site, you’ll find he’s also a great instructor. Very easy to follow and his tutorials don’t always go perfectly, for which he offers no excuses and provides a great teaching moment cause you know you ain’t gonna do it perfectly either.In this particular book he gives insight into how he makes creative decisions when painting from photos, which most of us do at some point or other. Give it a look and check out his web site - watercolourlandscapes.co.uk.Said enough

This book is excellent in explaining how and when to use a photograph in your are layouts, especially when back in the studio, away from the location where your inspiration came. It also explains the use of camera lenses and exposure! Some artists have no concept of photography, and how to utilize the exposure system and angles of acceptance of their lenses, and how best to crop a photo or expose for shadows and highlights.He also explains how to pull into the photo items from other photos, to make the piece more interesting, and eye appealing. I highly recommend this book as well as "Donald Patterson's Creating Watercolor Landscapes, using photographs" Both set straight how photographic watercolors are created, and the use of projectors and other viewing tools to get precise details onto your easel. What bothers me is why an artist, would want to work weeks if not months on a painting to achieve a photographic reproduction of a street scene or still life, when with a 10 or 14 mp. camera they just won't take the photo, and make a huge enlargement and call that good enough! I like freehand reproductions, using a grid or free hand representation over the need of a projector to make people think that they are that good with a brush and pencil. After all...One of the most famous artist of our time, Norman Rockwell staged all his subjects in front of a camera, and projected the scene onto his easel, to recreate the exact nuances of the comic or emotion of his idea onto his easels for Saturday Evening Post!

Absolutely one of the best instructional watercolour books I have ever read for those struggling with overworking their paintings and putting too much detail in. Geoff clearly indicates with each demonstration (and there are many!), exactly what he thinks is wrong with the photograph, what he has decided to change or leave out, and most importantly WHY he has decided to change that aspect and how that will add to the painting. He advises on both compositional and colour changes, and of course, all the advice can be applied just as easily to plein air paintings as well...and is also valuable for work in any medium, not just watercolour. As a detail-oriented Virgo, I have huge problems with stopping myself painting every tiny thing I can see and subsequently the finished work can sometimes turn out dull and lack life. Geoff Kersey has always been one of my favourite artists, and absolutely has one of the best teaching styles as well. As an experienced watercolourist who has been painting seriously for going on 40 years now, I can honestly say that I have learned SO much from this book and can highly recommend it.

I paint mostly from photos, and I found myself taking great pains to get all the details exactly like the photo. This author gives permission, and demonstrates how to use the photo for inspiration. I learned so much from the examples and narrative. Recommend highly!!

watercolor painter for more than 15 years. photographer for 3x that many years. i have a rather large pile of reference books - but - i checked this one out of my local library and quickly realized i needed my own copy. His approach ideas on how to combine photos, modify the shot to a more painterly composition, on how to take photographs with an eye toward painting refreshed how i see. He generously includes 27 different paintings and their related photos with notes why he cropped, or modified color, or changed the horizon, or removed items in photos.

it is not as good as i hoped it would be but i have not had a chance to really read through it

I am looking forward to working on some of my years of photos I would like to reproduce in watercolors.Figuring out what to include, what to leave out and what to emphasize is the focus of this book.This book provides the guidance and motivation for me to begin working on my painting.

I have a lot of watercolour books and prefer to watching online tutorials.I like Geiff Kersey books as they are clear and helpful.This book is a little different from his ‘beginner’ books such as the Take Three Colours series.In it, Geoff shares his philosophy of using photos as reference material, explores perspective and has stopped me sticking slavishly to a photographic image.Inspirational book which has imfluenced my painting.This is one of my own paintings from a photo in which I have applied a lot of lessons learned from the book - particularly around composition and perspective.

Very informative. Good illustrations on how to use photographs as a source material for paintings. Useful tips and hints how to go about changing a photograph into a subject for a water colour. It is great to paint outside but if you want dramatic landscapes then sometimes it is necessary to work from other sources due to inclement weather. This book is useful to develop initial sketches and to see how it differs from the actual colours in the photograph. Most people take photographs for gospel but they lack the tonal range of the human eye and this book provides a list of colours as a starting point. It also illustrates how you can adapt a photograph to fit the rule of thirds or to add or subtract other subjects to make your painting have a focal point. Good value for money.

This is an absolutely brilliant book. I have literally hundreds of watercolour instruction books, however this book is probably the best. The demonstrations are well thought out, and clearly explained, and Geoff shows where he has deviated from the original photographs, and why, to create a better painting. Totally excellent book, definitely recommend to all levels of artists.

Have seen a demo at Sutton Art Society by Geoff this year and was impressed with his knowledge. I always tend to paint from my own photos but have always felt that it does tie you down a bit as I am not a naturally free and loose painter, possibly because in my career I had to be accurate and dot all the i's and cross all the t's. I saw the 'soon to be released' book and took a chance before any reviews. I needn't have worried. The book came before the forecast launch date and is just what I need to free up my painting style. I can thoroughly recommend it.

Very informative with lots of examples of how to adapt photo scenes for a painting. I would have liked it to have included at least a couple of 'step-by-step starter projects', but these are available in other of books. This is not a book for the absolute beginner, except perhaps as an inspiration and to help you see the potential in locations and scenes. Previously I had looked for the perfect scene and tried to take the perfect photo, but this book has helped me see how a photo/photos can be adapted to make a good subject for a watercolour