Creating Luminous Watercolor Landscapes

Occasionally, I come across an art book that truly exceeds my expectations. This first effort by Sterling Edwards is definitely one of those rare publications. I bought this without knowing anything about the author or his work. The exceptional lessons and tips included in this book -- along with the outstanding instructional DVD that is included -- have significantly influenced my watercolor work. I suspect Sterling has had this impact on many aspiring artists.If you seek to learn watercolor photorealism, this is definitely not your book. But, if you are inspired by loose and suggestive work in the spirit of Robert E. Wood, Edgar Whitney, Frank Webb, Don Andrews and Zoltan Szabo, you'll likely find this publication to be an absolute goldmine of creative ideas and techniques.Sterling's approach is very pragmatic and completely absent of strict dogma and rigid rules. His preferred materials and tools are quite unique and defy tradition. His focus is on achieving results... without being constrained by any particular method. Since adopting the approach and techniques illustrated in this book, I have since purchased all of the excellent Sterling Edwards DVDs and have also enrolled in his upcoming workshop. I highly recommend this exceptional book -- it has changed my art.

As a watercolor artist Sterling Edwards book is one every artist should have on their shelf. The instructions are clean, clear, and concise. I'm excited about the information in Sterling's new book. A friend of mine (well known artist Luke Buck) first told me of Sterlings beautiful watercolor work. since learning of Sterling's work I'm glad to say that this book is one every artist should read. Sterling's influances remind me of another well known watercolor artist whom I never got to paint with. If I could give this book ten stars I would. I'm glad to see Sterling Edward's new book and hope I get the opportunity some day to paint with him. A great buy for the watercolor artist.

The moment I saw Edward Sterling's book I knew that this was the technique I would love to learn!When my book arrived I plunged into it with great expectation and, if I expected something great, Iwas surprised to find it exceeded my expectations. An absolutely great instruction book, also watchinghim on the DVD at the back of the book was an absolute bonus. Sterling Edwards' four step approachreally changed my approach to painting watercolours vastly for which I am extremely grateful. Morebooks and DVD's would be welcomed with joy!

Yes, I love it because this book is "short to the point" and very handy and useful reference. Although I studied water color for long time, I still want to have some reference and inspiration from other artists.

He makes his technique look so easy but it's not. I purchased this in Kindle to use on my Ipad. I can make the pictures larger on the Ipad and it's easy to flip through. I like that I can highlight, make notes and book mark sections. There are no video clips with the Kindle version. I use my Ipad mostly for reference pictures and am happy with this purchase. As a beginner I have a limited number of brushes so I purchased his bristle brushes from another site. If you have a lot of brushes you probably don't need his brushes.

This is a wonderful instructional book with lovely examples. It was like new at a reasonable price, and I Look forward to trying some of the exercises in "the four step process."

This is one of the best, easiest to understand, and practical instructional books on painting with watercolors that I have ever read, and I have plenty of them! The four-step process is ingeniously simple, and the book explains by example with good excercises and paintings. Sterling Edwards doesn't call this a pancea by any means, as he emphasizes that no process is any good without a very important ingredient - practice. But this process, and this book and DVD, equip you with all you need to improve your painting skills by leaps and bounds.

This book and accompanying dvd are mainly a sales pitch for Mr. Edward's proprietary brushes. I gave it 3 stars because it does contain some good information for the beginning water colorist (myself). However, I feel there should have been information in the description explaining that the technique that Mr. Edward's is teaching really requires his brushes to accomplish. They are, of course, available on his website for $70. I have discovered, since embarking on a quest to learn water color painting, that a host of books and videos fall into this same category of being primarily sales pitches. There are many free sites on the web which do the same (sell), but provide lessons at no charge. So far I have found Gordon MacKenzie's book,The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook - Landscapes, to be the most helpful.