How to Paint Like Turner

Very nice color... Big photos. Nice paper. Anything by Turner is fab but they picked very good works to use as lessons. Starts easy, gets harder. Good info, great step by step. I'll enjoy doing some of these. I think they are all watercolors tho, I would of liked some oil examples. Perhaps they need to make a second book w his oil paintings. It took a while for it to get here but it was worth the wait . Glad I got it.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book but absolutely love it.For a start, it was bigger than I expected, it's A4 sized. It's extremely clearly and well written and edited. The contents are: Getting to know Turner; Turner's materials; Getting started; and Learning from Turner. Each one if these chapters has sub-sections, for example, in Learning from Turner, you get to cover sky, water, fire, trees, buildings, people and animals, mountains, sunrise and sunset, and moonlight. The book includes a good and detailed chronology, glossary, bibliography and index.The Learning from Turner section gives very clear and well laid out guidelines on reproducing some of his techniques. They are so clear that anyone from the absolute watercolor beginner to expert would get a lot out of these exercises and would be able to create works to be proud of. Even better, the techniques you will learn if you follow the exercises would give you confidence to strike out on your own and create your own compositions.This fascinating book really is a triumph from the team at Tate and I can't recommend it highly enough.If you are a big Turner fan, you may be interested to know that nearly all of Turner's sketchbooks are available to view online. Here's a link to his wonderful watercolor sky sketches: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/search?q=turner%27s%20sky%20watercolour%20sketchbooksI love that you can click through the pages and see all this! Even better, if you visit London, you can make an appointment and see these wonderful sketchbooks in person, for free.

Good overall instruction in watercolor.The discussion of Turners work is authoritative and worthwhile. I am more inspired by the abstract work, that studies with intimate detail.After work in the manner of Turner. It would be a good idea to do work in greater luminosity. Experiments with a more violent and aggressive approach..such as the German, Emil Nolde. Winston Hough

Quality of the book is amazing, heavy paper, the information and lessons are great, for a beginner or intermedium artist. Like the book so much we send a copy to our son who is artist. Great book, quick shipping

I had only ever dreamed of a book that discussed watercolour from a historical perspective AND had exercises/copies to try and learn from. I absolutely loved the biography and the material culture aspects on the supplies section. I also appreciate the opportunity to learn watercolour in an antiquated style-- Turner's 1/2 avant garde 1/2 regency way of working is not common in modern watercolour and so it is interesting to work like this.There are so many 'exercises' to try and they go over everything you would see in a Turner sketch- mountains, fire, moonlight, water, trees, figures etc. I don't always agree with the colour selection they choose for the exercises, but working within the author's selection has given me an opportunity to experiment with colour in a new way. I also have appreciated the author's incorporation of additional techniques like scraping and damaging the paper to create some of the effects in the copies.One of the most important lesson I learned so far has been the importance of having a good wash brush. You cannot get the reflective effects from water without an impeccably smooth wash.

While some of the images may provide inspiration, the technique descriptions are not useful to me. I imagine that understanding the technique needs a live demo or video. It is, however, a beautiful book.

Quality of this book is stellar! Exercises are fun and very instructional, so far. Looking forward to the creative days ahead.

Wonderful book. I'm not an art history buff, but I found myself savoring each page of the biography part of the book. The demonstrations which follow are very well thought out. This book acts as a guide to the techniques used by Turner, written and demonstrated by people who have made a study of his work .Unlike other watercolor books which I might look at a bit and set aside, I find myself using this book repeatedly as a reference and an inspiration. I've already created two paintings using the guidance in this book, and seen a marked improvement in my work. This is not a book for beginners; you need to have some experience as well as an adventurous spirit to benefit from this work. If this describes you, then purchase the book.