Ted Billson Reveals the Secrets of Watercolour

By Edward Billson

I decided to write this book for a number of reasons, to impart what I have learnt over 40 years of painting, to show my paintings and because I have read many books and not one of them has given the full facts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Oct 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503505605

Edward Billson

Ted Billson was borne in Melbourne, began his education at Glamorgan until 12 years old and then Melbourne Grammar. He won a number of school art prizes. He holds a number of degrees in Architecture and Engineering from RMIT and Melbourne University. The course at the RIMT in architecture is an excellent training for art with a complete mathematical course in setting up perspectives of buildings and shadows, followed by a course in water- colour rendering for architectural l presentations .And naturally, a through grounding in history of art and design. Ted has been painting for over 40 years and during that time has sold and won many prizes. He has had many exhibitions not only in Australia but overseas, one in particular in Hong Kong where he had a sell-out of 21 paintings. Notwithstanding all of the above, Ted's desire is to reveal the secrets of water- colour to thoughts who buy his book so they become competent artist and obtain many hours of immense joy from doing the excises. Ted has spent many hours writing this book in an attempt to simplify and explain clearly the various steps so that anybody can understand and enjoy his book. Finally, good painting.

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Copyright © 2015 by Edward Billson. 670152

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015907821

ISBN:   Softcover              978-1-5035-0559-9

              Hardcover            978-1-5035-0561-2

              EBook                  978-1-5035-0560-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 09/28/2015

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.xlibris.com.au

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REVEALS THE SECRETS OF WATERCOLOURS

INTRODUCTION

I decided to write this book for a number of reasons; to impart what I have learnt over 40 years of painting, to show my paintings and because I have read many books and not one of them has given the full facts.

APART FROM THE VARIOUS TECHNIQUES YOU WILL FIND HOW TO ANALYZE A PAINTING BASED ON MATHEMATICS BUT SIMPLIFIED.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Chapter 2 THE PROCESS

Chapter 3 TECHNIQUE FOR WASHES

Chapter 4 ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

Chapter 5 GLAZING

Chapter 6 THE USE OF COLOUR

Chapter 7 COMBINING TEXTURAL EFFECTS WITH GLAZING

Chapter 8 DESIGN A PICTURE

Chapter 9 COMPOSITION

Chapter 10 UNDERSTANDING PERSPECTIVE

Chapter 11 UNDERSTANDING SHADOWS AND THE SOURCE OF LIGHT

Chapter 12 UNDERSTANDING REFLECTIONS

Chapter 13 HOW TO DRAW PORTRAITS

Chapter 14 HOW TO DRAW THE FIGURE ‘S PROPORTIONS

Chapter 15 SOME OF MY SKETCHES

Chapter 16 CREATIVITY AND CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 1

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

A bad workman blames his tools, they say, so let’s begin by buying the best equipment we can afford and eliminate that possibility. First of all it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with some of the Art Supply shops that are around preferably one near where you live, and get to know the people behind the counter. The people who man art shops are usually artists and very helpful, so talk to them and enlist their knowledge and support in your new project.

PAPERS

The very first thing you need is the paper, and not just any old paper. There is a great variety of sizes and qualities of 100% cotton papers made for watercolour painting, both machine and hand-made. While you should not stint on materials, it is the case that the machine-made paper is excellent to use. My favourite is Arches, but you can consider the others, Saunders Waterford, Watman’s, Fabriano, Bockinford, all excellent, but all do have their own behaviour, so try them all to see what you like.

There are several decisions that have to be made at the same time. Remember, life wasn’t meant to be easy, and particularly for the water-colourist. To start with papers come in two weights, 150lb and 300lb (300gms and 600gms), the heavy weight remains more stable, the lighter weight tends to buckle more, when you are working on it.

Then there are two sizes of paper to consider, firstly, the Elephant 40X25 inches (102X64 cm) which is not generally used and secondly, the common Full Sheet, 30X22 inches (76x56cms)The Full Sheet and can