(by Peter Woolley)

A review by Michael Dale...

Peter Woolley is an artist I've known and respected for more than 20 years. Over those years I have admired the way he has never lost focus...

• He has never lost a sense of painting simple watercolors.
• He paints watercolors that capture the life and substance of grassland, trees and water.
• He is an artist who, with simple flat washes, can give the true impact of wild, desolate hill country.

And, his eye for color contrasts can surprise and delight anyone.

Unlike many of us (Yes, that includes me), he hasn't been distracted by new art materials and the lure of different subject matter. Even though he has all the painting skills anybody would envy, Peter knows what he does best. He continually strives to produce fine quality watercolor paintings of what he loves best...


DVD - Watercolour 1: The Building Blocks of Watercolour...

Lesson 1 “Plain Wash”...

Shows how to paint a single flat wash, using a single color. You see how lay paint quickly onto a dry sheet of watercolor paper. Peter describes how you can get the brush marks to blend in to result in color that smoothly and evenly covers the whole surface.


What surprised me when I saw Peter paint this demonstration was his use of a large flat brush. Perhaps this is why I have envied his painting's skies.

He explains what beading is and how to avoid it spoiling your paintings by simple quick techniques that take no time at all to do.

Lesson 2 “Graded Wash”...

Here, Peter shows you how to make a single color wash look more interesting.

First, he shows you how to paint onto a wet paper surface. He starts at the top of the paper and quickly works down... Quickly producing a smooth transition from dark to light

Peter next shows how a 2-color wash painting combines to create a shimmering transfer from one color to another color. His aim with this demonstration is to work quickly and let the damp surface do the painting for him.

You can see the way the original colors combine to produce new secondary colors whilst keeping their original character... This gives you softness and subtleness along with strength and potential

In the second exercise, Peter also explains how to stop out with tissue to create light white whispy clouds to give you a dynamic sky that radiates heat. This is a sky that leaves you with the promise of welcome afternoon rain to follow… You can get all this from a simple 2 color graded wash

Lesson 3 “Wet-in-Wet Wash”...

Introduces a 3rd color to the equation. This is where you quickly go beyond what you have learned from 1- Color Is Best. This is where Peter brings you further into the painting power that 3- Colors Are All You Need promises.

And, the great thing is… Peter makes it all so easy for you

Instead of a flat consistent wash, it shows the magic that a combination of just 3 colors gives you. It shows how a random layout of Yellow, Red and Blue can provide added dynamic interest to the sky.

This is where you understand the true wonder of a watercolor painting. Rather than keeping the secrets to himself, Peter gives you an inside look at how his painting technique works, with simple tricks that can be easily copied, time and again.

Listen out for when he says, “Revel in this moment… the best bits are those you don’t plan”, just before he adds the 3rd color to his painting. This is the key to the best in watercolor painting… Surprise.

You see how Peter allows the wet color to combine as it dries. Peter knows he doesn’t have to do the work… The wet paint does the work for him

Lesson 4 “Transparent Wash”...


This is how peter introduces the next, most important part… This is where you are shown how to create an effective landscape painting.

If you don’t believe it can be true that you can paint good watercolors, then you are in for a great big surprise. In just 7 stages, you are taken through creation of a clear ice-cold mountain lake with background hills that fade into a sunset haze… You’ll be able to imagine yourself standing on the opposite hillside, admiring the view

It shows how to build upon the dynamic sky wash of lesson 3. All this is done with watercolor paintings gift to an artist… Transparent washes

What I like about Peter’s video demonstrations is that he doesn’t waffle or try to make things more complicated than they really are. He shows you exactly how he effortlessly conjures up a picture that is well within your painting abilities.

As students of 1- Color Is Best and 3- Colors Are All You Need you are in the best place of all… whether you appreciate it or not, you already know the secrets behind watercolor painting.


Peter doesn’t hold anything back. The video isn’t full of padding. You are shown exactly what to do. And, he tells you clearly what not to do… things that will spoil a perfectly good painting.

What  DVD - Watercolour 1: The Building Blocks of Watercolour gives you is a fast way of painting watercolor landscapes...

Follow Peter Woolley's lessons and you will be creating paintings that you will be proud of.

Do what Peter Woolley does... KEEP IT SIMPLE... Paint the landscape scenes you love and are passionate about. The only extras you need are...

• Your vision and imagination
  
• Your knowledge of your surrounding landscape
  
• Observation
• Your willingness to give it a go
  

Soon, you will be creating paintings... your local gallery owner will be screaming for more of your paintings

Click the following text link to get Peter Woolley’s DVD - Watercolour 1: The Building Blocks of Watercolour  for only £13



News... Hot off the Press...
And there's more...

Over time Peter has been upgrading what has been called a computer based system for teaching watercolor...

Here is what Ernest Ruddick,Yarm has to say...


And, Mary Briggs, Nuneaton says this...


I'll soon be reviewing Peter Woolley's Watercolour Studio, Version 4 . All I can say at the moment is that it comes a full CD with a massive 586.35MB of information. I look forward to seeing what it can do to make watercolor painting easy to learn...

Peter Woolley's Watercolour Studio sounds like an ideal companion to DVD - Watercolour 1: The Building Blocks of Watercolour


Click the following text link to get Peter Woolley’s Watercolour Studio  for only £20 (Including Postage & Packaging)




Finally...

Perhaps the strongest recommendation comes from Sheila McLoughlin  when she gives her thoughts on the watercolor painting information contained in Watercolour Studio  with the words...

"Having had a good look at the CD-Rom Version 3 (It is now Version 4) I have to say that I have yet to find a better Tutorial. It has to be the most comprehensive, instructive and helpful CD-Rom I have seen... Thank you Peter for your wonderful way of teaching"