Exploring Watercolor: From Location To Studio; Making Watercolor Glow; Watercolor In Action: Responding To Nature

Exploring Watercolor: From Location to Studio and Watercolor in Action: Responding to Nature are two workshops in landscape portraits conducted by artist Gerald F. Brommer. The format for both programs is identical. Brommer goes on location to sketch in the elements for a painting of a rocky shoreline (Exploring Watercolor) and a lighthouse on a rocky shoreline (Watercolor in Action). Following the sketches, Brommer goes back to the studio and walks viewers through filling in the color. The instruction is competent, professional, and will probably be of interest only to people serious about landscape painting. Don Andrews' Making Watercolor Glow, on the other hand, is an exciting conceptual approach to watercolor painting (as opposed to just another good but essentially paint-by-numbers video) that will inspire working watercolorists and complete novices alike. A nationally known teacher and watercolorist, Andrews says that "exiting color can be a reason, in itself, to paint." Over the course of the next hour or so, Andrews does, indeed, make watercolor "glow." Using the concepts of "granulation" (mixing color directly on the paper), "color dominance" (in which he explores the temperature of colors), and "intensity" (he feels that artists confine themselves to too narrow a range in color intensity), Andrews gives the would-be painter the necessary keys to unlock the power of color in watercolor. A superb program which will get beginners eager to try their hand, and raise established watercolorists to newer levels. Libraries with strong art instruction collections may want to add one or the other of Gerald F. Brommer's watercolor tapes (both are not necessary). Recommended. Don Andrews' Making Watercolor Glow is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (Exploring Watercolor and Watercolor in Action are both available from: Crystal Video, P.O. Box 2159, Glenview, IL 60025; 1-800-255-8629.) (Making Watercolor Glow is available from: Don Andrews, 350 N. Summit St., Fairhope, AL 36532; 1-800-366-9028.)