Watercolor Painting

Tom Hoffmann is a practising artist and teacher who has been dedicated to the watercolour medium for more than 30 years. He received his BFA from Amherst College and an MA-Art Education from the University of London. His paintings have been exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum, the Frye museum, Tacoma Art Museum, The Copley Society of Boston and the Armory at Park Avenue in New York City.

• Watercolor PaintingContentsIntroduction: Understanding Watercolor     Chapter One: Translating a Subject into the Language of Watercolor   Being Mindful of Your Subject          Revisiting Your Purpose       Identifying the Tricky Parts   Knowing Where to Begin     Knowing When to Stop         Maintaining Intentionality with Your Marks  Recognizing What Works    Using the Language of Form           Chapter Two: Knowing What Not to Paint  Identifying the Major Shapes           Creating a Five-Value Monochrome Study            Evaluating a Simplified Study          Creating a Two-Layer Geometric Sketch  Thinking about Stopping      Creating a Three-Layer Thumbnail Sketch            Chapter Three: Seeing in Layers    Resolving an Image through LayersLearning to Exercise Restraint        Identifying Individual Layers    Evaluating the Layers              Chapter Four: Understanding Value              Identifying the Lightest Part of the Picture     Reserving the Whites              Reserving Non-White Elements         Identifying the Darkest Part of the Picture     Bracketing the Values             Knowing How Dark You Can Go        Critiquing the Darks     Knowing When to Depart from “Accuracy”   Chapter Five: Sharing Control of Wetness               Working with Hard and Soft Edges               Planning the Wetness of the Paper               Providing Enough Time for Each Task          Gauging How Much Paint You Need             Gauging the Wetness of the Brush    Rewetting an Area       Knowing When to Depart from “Accuracy”    Chapter Six: Getting the Most out of Color               Serving Your Main Goals with Color              Evaluating Your Palette           Mixing Your Colors       Identifying the Dominant Color           Evaluating the Effects of Color Temperature            Knowing When to Depart from “Accuracy”    Enlivening Your Darks             Choosing Colors for Your Neutrals    Chapter Seven: Developing an Instinct for Composition     Sketching Your Subject           Translating Form into Content            Knowing When to Depart from “Accuracy”    Creating the Illusion of Space             Being Mindful of Abstraction               Establishing Balance               Chapter Eight: Becoming Your Own Teacher           Identifying the Qualities of a Good Teacher              Establishing Who Is in Charge           Painting for Its Own Sake        Devising Alternate Strategies            Identifying What Worked Well             Expanding Your Range           Asking the Questions              Index