Book Review – Colorways Watercolor Animals

Book Title: Colorways – Watercolor Animals

Author: Shaunna Russell

Year of Publication: 2019 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc

Genre: nonfiction, arts

The Book.  The author, Shaunna Russel, gave insights for the beginner, as it pertains to this style of painting (ie, animals in bright colors).  She also reviewed watercolor tools (e.g., types of paints, papers, brushes, masking fluid, etc.). She went on to review some watercolor techniques, such as a wash, graded wash, wet into wet, wet on dry, adding white, and more. 

In the final section, before the examples, Shaunna included a quick overview of prepping for a painting session; and like many artists, she recommended using photos as a source to sketch out your picture. Up to this point, it’s all basic information for watercolorists, but for a newcomer, this is valuable information.  

Shaunna then guided the reader through her process of painting an animal (from beginning to end), including the use of masking fluid, gel pens, and a blow dryer.  This is a good walk-through process, especially for beginners. 

Favorites Bits.  Shaunna gave explanations on how to recreate her examples within the book (step by step), and thereby laid the groundwork for the reader to go out and create their own original pieces.  Brilliant. 

To read or not to read… Yes!  This was such a fun book to review as well as having the excuse to pull out my watercolors. And yes, I’m sharing my two paintings (uh, attempts) with you. Regardless of my lack of talent, it was fun to try this style and I recommend the book to anyone interested in watercolors. 

Where I found the book:  my copy of the book was purchased from Amazon (dot) com, a Kindle version.  Note, I am not affiliated and do not receive any money for this recommendation. 

These are my attempts from the examples in the book. This was a lot of fun!

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