Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media

A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Stunning Effects--Play with Gouache, Metallic Paints, Masking Fluid, Alcohol, and More!

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on Waterstones.com
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 30 Nov 2020 | Archive Date 9 Dec 2020

Talking about this book? Use #CreativeWatercolorandMixedMedia #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

In Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media, popular watercolor artist, instructor, and author Ana Victoria Calderon shares her simple step-by-step techniques for painting exciting and colorful motifs by combining watercolor with a variety of other user-friendly materials.
  • Start with the essentials—paint, paper, and brushes—then learn about the featured mediums for mixing, including masking fluid, gold leaf, bleach, salt, and alcohol
  • Take a step-by-step look at fundamental watercolor techniques
  • Learn to paint a variety of striking organic motifs and surface effects, including stirring skies and clouds, sparkling galaxies, flowing oceans, and dazzling crystals
  • Find great project ideas for stylish gifts and stationery
Whether you're new to the medium or are looking to add new techniques to your watercolor practice, go grab a brush, paints, and some easy-to-use materials and take a beautiful creative journey with watercolor!

Perfect for all skill levels, the books in the Art for Modern Makers series take a fun, practical approach to learning about and working with paints and other art mediums to create beautiful DIY projects and crafts.
In Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media, popular watercolor artist, instructor, and author Ana Victoria Calderon shares her simple step-by-step techniques for painting exciting and colorful motifs by...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781631598807
PRICE US$22.99 (USD)
PAGES 144

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)

Average rating from 40 members


Featured Reviews

A great instructional book for creative watercolor and mixed media! This book gives a straightforward, but detailed overview from needed materials, methods, and a variety of vibrant projects. Stunning, colorful, step-by-step pictures accompany all of the projects. Projects include: basic techniques, horizons, celestial skies, sacred geometry, etc. A perfect guide for watercolor artists looking to expand their repertoire!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Was this review helpful?

This short guide to watercolor techniques is great for beginners and has step-by-step instructions that really helped me follow along. The book isn't comprehensive but is a nice starter guide.

Was this review helpful?

This is a gorgeous, fun, easy to follow book that walks you through lots of beautiful watercolor paintings. I love that Calderón uses affordable materials and her colors are so bright and joyful. There are a lot of projects and she gives techniques to make them really interesting, with templates at the back. This isn't as "mixed media" as I usually think of for the term (using other materials besides paints) but means more along the lines of different types of paints. It's a great book, and one that artists of all ages and skill levels can enjoy.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book in return for an honest review.

This is a very enjoyable book that let me explore watercolour and mixed media in a creative and new way. I have tried watercolours many times but never really explored the creative side so this was nice to use, it was also nice to turn to if I was struggling for ideas and wanted to paint.

Rating: 5⭐
Would I Read It Again? Yes as I can use this whenever I want to use watercolour
Would I Recommend it? Yes, this is good for people who are interested in watercolour whether they are beginners or not

Was this review helpful?

What a charming book!

This is a great guide for any watercolor enthusiast, especially for beginners. It has an easy approach and it's also practical, every technique taught and explained is done based on a specific project, so you see every detail and result in action. I love how various projects intertwine, the basic exercises become part of a bigger work. Lovely idea!

I can easily say that if you, like me, were fearful of starting playing with watercolors, this book is the push you need. More than being a guide for using watercolors, it also brings new ideas on how to use them in mixed art projects, adding elements of nature like leaves and flowers to create mandalas. I liked how the author hinted to practical uses for the projects: mandalas to connect with your spiritual side, natural elements to bring nature close and different simple watercolor techniques to transform into postcards or small paintings.

I cannot recommend this book enough: it's great for your creative time, great for working with kids and great for opening up to new ideas and explore new creative endeavors.

Was this review helpful?

This is a short book packed full of lovely ideas. If you want to paint something but don”t know where to start this book will give you lots of inspiration. It gives step by step projects to have a go at. They are full of bright colours that please the eye and lift the soul..

Was this review helpful?

This is a really great art, how-to-book for watercolors . There are lots of step by step techniques to try out and the photos are very well done. I love how the author explains about all the different tools so clearly and how she demonstrates so clearly the steps in the experiments. This book is great for beginners as well as more advanced watercolorists.

Was this review helpful?

Wonderful beginners guide to watercolors. There is a chapter that covers materials and one that covers techniques, including using household items to get special effects in your paintings. Then additional chapters cover projects and are organized by horizons (sky/clouds/storms), celestial skies (moon, constellations, suns and planets), gems & crystals, earth & sacred geometry. The book has a lot of full color photos and step-by-step information, and it also includes templates for some of the suggested projects. I am looking forward to working through this.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

This book provides an excellent compilation of techniques for achieving different watercolor background textures. Each comes with an explanation and some examples. At the end of the book are some additional creative ideas that are absolutely doable even for beginners! So this book can be helpful for both advanced watercolor artist who want to learn to combine watercolor with something else, or absolute beginners.

Was this review helpful?

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Creative Watercolor and Mixed Mediais a fantastic book for beginners to get started and build confidence using watercolours and other paints together with watercolours, to produce detailed, 3d type artwork.
The projects in this book are beautiful and can be expanded on further down the line.
I loved how you can see photographs of the instructions given and see how the project transforms from beginning to end.
I found this book a wealth of guidance and reassurance and look forward to giving some of these projects and ideas a go!

Was this review helpful?

This is a fantastic step-by-step guide to fundamental watercolor techniques that can educate a beginner, and even an advanced watercolor painter to make their work even better.

Was this review helpful?

This is a great guide to creating beautiful and trendy artwork. It goes through all the materials you could use and provide step by step instruction on a number of fun projects while teaching you the skills to make anything you could imagine. There are great photo guides for each part of the process, so it's a really great book for different learning styles. I can't wait to get out my paints!
Many thanks to Quarry Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Was this review helpful?

Beautiful book with detailed instructions for projects using watercolor and other mixed media. Gorgeous photos of step-by-step projects. Wonderful book for someone new to watercolor and mixed media, or someone who has experience but looking for new projects. Highly recommended.

Was this review helpful?

I have been exploring more of my creative side in 2020 (lockdown is good for something at least!) So when I saw this one I knew I had to request it. This book would be perfect for a beginning who wants to dip their toes into watercolors. It's packed full of information. Easy to follow instructions, Gorgeous photos and projects. My favorite chapter was Earth & Sacred Geometry!

This would definitely make an excellent gift for the budding artist in your life!

Was this review helpful?

This an excellent book for beginners to use to get started with watercolor painting and mixed media. It provides basic information on the materials needed, and practical set-by-step instructions to get you started, illustrated with clear photographs. The author shows you each technique in the context of a project so you can easily see and enjoy your results. Projects are organized by themes and there are templates to use for some of the projects to help you along. As you learn new techniques, the author shows you how you can include additional elements(mixed media) into your work.

If you've wanted to get started with watercolor painting but were unsure how to begin, this book will help you get started. If you are a beginner, this book will help you expand you skills and confidence by incorporating additional media into your work. It is a great resource to help you explore and expand your creative side.

Was this review helpful?

This book was very well done. I instructions were easy to follow and the photos were both gorgeous and inspiring. In my ELA classroom, we often do sketching to help the writing process. I would highly recommend this book to my students and plan to do more water coloring myself. I have been very interested in mixed media, so this book has been helpful. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

Such a cute watercolor book! The projects are so beautiful and has step by step instructions. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Was this review helpful?

This book is very perfect, I love watercolor, you know I was very excited that I was going to go out for sale, I can't wait to start practicing.

Was this review helpful?

This is a great "hands on" book, with lots of detailed illustrative photos to help guide the reader through the various techniques.
Ana Victoria Calderón begins with an exploration of the basic tools and techniques used throughout the book, pitched at a level suitable for both absolute beginners and experienced amateur artists looking to broaden their skill-base. The section on experimentation with different media (including several household substances) was particularly well-illustrated and valuable, as testing the various effects is an essential part of producing watercolour art.
The remainder of the book is dedicated to chapters focussed around achieving particular effects - horizons, celestial skies, gems & crystals, and earth & sacred geometry (including botanicals). Using these techniques, an aspiring amateur artist will be able to progress a long way in creating landscape and still life pieces. Several templates are included at the end of the book for use as a reference point, although the author does emphasise the importance of an artist developing and practising their own drawing style.
In the course of reading Creative Watercolour and Mixed Media for review, my 11-year-old daughter and I worked through several of the techniques outlined, using our own materials. We both found the step-by-step style of the book really helpful in developing some new skills and finding inspiration for future artistic work. My daughter was particularly taken with the "celestial skies" project, while I'm working on incorporating some Aurora Australis images into Christmas cards, employing the "contstellations and cosmic textures" techniques using salt and gouache with watercolour.
This book was a joy to read and review, and I will be obtaining my own copy in the very near future. My thanks to the author, Quarto Publishing Group USA / Quarry Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Was this review helpful?

The author did a good job of breaking down several watercolor techniques into easy to follow instructions. The instructions were clear and covered several techniques. Would I call this mixed media? No, not in the true sense of the term. However, she does introduce a few other materials that can be combined with watercolors to get the overall effects. While I would not purchase this for myself, I can see this being a good beginner introduction to watercolor. Her projects are more crafty in nature but they are good exercises to use / practice to become familiar with the techniques and the medium.

Was this review helpful?

Great book that breaks down the trendy "galaxy" style illustrations as well as gemstones. As with most books the first section is dedicated to materials, in this one they showed the metallic watercolors which often get ignored in books. Great examples for hobbiests.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you netgallery and the author for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review. I do craft nights at our library and I am always looking for new and fun things to try. Filled with beautiful photos and detailed instructions, I can't wait to try some of these ideas out myself!

Was this review helpful?

Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media; A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Stunning Effects--Play with Gouache, Metallic Paints, Masking Fluid, Alcohol, and More by Ana Victoria Calderon is a step by step guide with lots of information for beginners.  There are lots of photos to help you.

If you're interested in starting watercolour, then this is a good book to help you!

 Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media; A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Stunning Effects--Play with Gouache, Metallic Paints, Masking Fluid, Alcohol, and More  was published on 17th November 2020 and is available to buy from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop .

You can follow Ana Victoria Calderon on  Instagram ,  Facebook ,  Youtube  and her  website .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Quarto Publishing .

Was this review helpful?

A beautiful book that covers a wide range of watercolour techniques in a mixed media setting. I started my mixed media journey about two years ago so although familiar with most of the techniques it was still an enjoyable read.

Was this review helpful?

Thank you to Quarry books for providing an advanced copy in exchange of a honest review.
Gorgeous book! If you wanted to know more about watercolor and experiment with it, this book is a great start. It introduces several techniques on how you can achieve interesting effects with the paint eg, mixing it with other types of paint, sprinkling salt over them or mixing it with ink. After an introduction to some of these base techniques the book offers step by step explanation for painting impressive cloudy skies or gem stone or even some flowery mandalas. I would recommend this book for anyone who needs some inspiration. I found the book a bit short but it offers a lot of interesting ideas. Great for beginners or people looking for some new experimental inspiration. Would also make a lovely present.

Was this review helpful?

I enjoy all the art books I get a chance to see with netgalley. I do not always see such a variety I. The stores I go to. I am just starting watercolors and this book had some great information.

Was this review helpful?

I love this book! Ana creates beautiful mixed media art. Her vibrant art style makes me happy. The step-by-step instructions are also easy to follow. I’ve completed two projects so far.

I have many art instruction books and I’d have to say this is one of my favorites. I highly recommend it! This book is just beautiful. It's rare for me to want to do every project in a book, but this is one of those exceptions. The step-by-step instructions are explained with several accompanying photos. I especially loved the Outer-Space Collage.

Was this review helpful?

Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media is a new tutorial and technique guide by Ana Victoria Caderón. Released 30th Nov 2020 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 144 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is an exuberant and colorful art tutorial with an emphasis on spontaneity and flexible results using gouache, metallic paints, masking fluids, alcohol inks, pigments and more. The artist has an encouraging and easy to understand style of teaching. I can imagine taking a workshop or class led by her would be rewarding and fun. The introduction gives a short background to mixed media techniques, tools, and supplies. I liked that the author didn't advertise for any particular brand of supplies and encourages readers to try a wide variety of products to find the best results for their own work.

The chapters are arranged logically - with several shorter tutorials building up techniques thematically: watercolor + other media, basic techniques, horizons (skyskapes), celestial compositions, gems/crystals, and earth & sacred geometry. The projects are very well photographed and include tools/materials in a bullet point list, and step by step instructions. The photos are clear and easy to follow.

The book also includes an index and resource lists.

Five stars. This would make a good addition to a home studio library, maker's group library, guild or public library or similar.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: