This practical and inspirational guide, in a handy sketchbook format, is aimed at the practised beginner and shows how to achieve successful watercolour landscapes in just 30 minutes – ideal for the busy amateur artist who doesn't have much time to paint.

This practical and inspirational guide, in a handy sketchbook format, is aimed at the practised beginner and shows how to achieve successful watercolour paintings of people in just 30 minutes – ideal for the busy amateur artist who doesn't have much time to paint.

This handy, practical guide encourages fast and simple learning. By working with just a few materials and focusing on key techniques, you can create successful watercolors in no more than half an hour.

Learn, from 11 outstanding artists, how to take advantage of watercolor's special properties to create realistic paintings of men, women and children of all ages. Assembled from some of the best teaching available, this book contains everything you need to get off to a smooth start - from basic information about materials, color and design to demonstrations that illustrate the figure-painting process from head to toe. You'll learn the techniques of: Barbara George Cain, Roberta Carter Clark, J. Everett Draper, Cathy Johnson, Carole Katchen, Jan Kunz, Tony van Hasselt, Bill Vrscak, Judi Wagner, Arne Westerman and Stephen Scott Young.

Colour and light provide the key to creating paintings that are exciting and full of atmosphere, and Trevor Waugh focuses on these important aspects throughout the book. He sees a painting as a "room", for which a colour scheme needs to be chosen and in which the different elements must be carefully placed in relation to the light and the composition as a whole.

Aimed at the practised beginner, this inspirational guide will show how to achieve successful sketches using pencil and watercolour in just 30 minutes – ideal for the busy amateur artist.

"Fiona Peart shows how to create a great selection of water colour wash paintings with a few simple guidelines. Combining her distinctive style with colour and texture, she includes clear step-by-step demonstrations to help build up skills with easy-to-follow explanations about all the techniques she uses. Features include: extensive coverage of materials, equipment, methods and techniques; full-colour photographs and clear descriptions; and, four hands-on, step-by-step projects."--Publisher description.