Seasons and Reflections: Notes on Painting in Watercolour

Have you ever tried watercolour but been disappointed with the results? Have you read watercolour books and tried the exercises in them, but rather than being inspired to paint more become bored and remembered that you need to take the bins out?

Seasons and Reflections is a love story to watercolour. Written by artist and tutor Andrew Pitt, and summarising a lifetime of over 60 years of watercolour experience, covering failures, mistakes and even the occasional success, Andrew distils the essence of watercolour, shares his experiences of teaching yourself to paint and shows how you can produce clean, fresh watercolours and fall in love with the medium.

Andrew is a watercolour practitioner and craftsman first. Without resorting to gadgets and one-off tricks he clearly explains the importance of understanding drawing, tone, edges, colour and texture, stripping away the needless complications and focusing only on what is necessary and sufficient.

This is not a conventional how-to painting book; there are already plenty of books which describe how to lay in a large wash. Andrew thinks the best method of learning to paint is to get on with painting pictures rather than boring practice exercises. Painting in watercolour is simple. But that is not the same as easy. This book concentrates on how to look and render your vision in a direct simple way: how to communicate visually with watercolour, with a major emphasis on simplicity. Using simple painting equipment, a simple range of colours and brushes, and a simple, direct painting approach the book and illustrations demonstrate the power and sincerity of simplicity.

With over 150 full-colour illustrations, covering a wide range of conventional and surprising subjects from Santa to pickup trucks, Andrew’s aim is to paint clean, fresh watercolours which celebrate the subject and retain the unique characteristics of watercolour. Seasons and Reflections will inspire you to pick up your brush and paint whatever is in front of you.

What people have said about the book:

"I have been struck by your wonderful writing style. You manage to sound like someone engaged in an ordinary, everyday conversation with the reader. Information is conveyed in a manner that is completely natural, unpretentious, simple, direct and clear (just like you). This down-to-earth tone creates a sense of rapport. The reader almost feels as if he knows you, almost as if you were an old friend. This is a remarkable achievement and makes the book a genuine pleasure to read." - ES

"I’m halfway through the book and I can say it is without a doubt one of, if not the, best instructional watercolor book that I’ve ever read. And I’ve read quite a few. As much as I hated to do it I am using a highliter for all of the tidbits of wisdom (and there are numerous) that I want refer to: “go for the finish straight away”, “touch the paper with the brush only once”. “Loose comes about by being careful”. "When I did not succeed very often it was usually because I wasn’t bold enough in the beginning”. “overpainting darks because you didn’t get them dark enough with the first wash is the killer of freshness”. “taking more time in the earlier stages of a painting saves time later on”. “The doing is relatively quick; it’s the thinking that takes the time”. Absolute gems!" - R (Massachusetts)