Watercolor in the Wild

Description

Product Description James Gurney presents an art instruction video that takes you on six watercolor painting adventures, demonstrating both beginning and advanced techniques for urban sketchers who want to take their art outdoors. Gurney, the New-York-Times bestselling author of Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, begins by showing you everything in his portable kit, which includes watercolors, water brushes, and water-soluble colored pencils. He then documents six paintings from start to finish, all shot on location, and each with helpful commentary and closeup details covering all the stages. Practical, inspiring, and entertaining, it's one of those rare art videos you'll want to watch again and again. 72 minutes running time. (NTSC, Region 1 coding) Review Gurney's approach is comprehensive and understandable. Painters of all stripes will glean valuable insights not found elsewhere. This DVD will occupy a prime spot in my library. --Brad Teare, Thick Paint BlogThe DVD covers Gurney's process of using watercolors to paint scenes from life outside of a studio setting.  In fact, true to it's name, pretty much every shot in the film is done outdoors, even the introductory scenes. The entire DVD runs 72 minutes, which is a fair length considering how affordable it is, especially for a DVD that's self-produced. In my opinion, it is just long enough to be informative, while not being so long as to deter you from viewing it one sitting.  I can't tell you how many 3 hour instructional downloads I have just sitting around, waiting to be watched... 'someday'. The DVD is organized quite cleverly. Firstly, Gurney walks you through all of his materials in detail, including his portable painting set-up. He carefully explains each of the materials, and why they are used. He then goes over some basic watercolor techniques, explaining how to use each of the materials he previously showed. The actual demonstrations consist of 6 different paintings. Each painting is it's own chapter, and no individual demo runs longer than 15 minutes or so. I get the impression these 6 paintings were selected carefully, as each one provides insight into a different set of problems. There is one that deals with architectural elements, one with foliage, one with atmosphere/light, one with a portrait, one with a stationary subject, and one with a moving subject. Gurney uses each of these paintings as an opportunity to discuss the problems unique to that particular image. During that, he also manages to slip in useful techniques and general art theory as he goes along. Although there are a lot of technical aspects discussed, Gurney is very good about verbalizing his thought process. For instance, talking about why he chooses make something darker, or softer, than it actually appears, for the sake of the narrative instead of accuracy. Most of the demos are edited down, doing a good job of skipping the mundane stuff, and getting right into the more exciting and informative bits. One demo however, is done in real-time, which provides a nice balance to the others, and lets you truly see how this hectic painting process REALLY goes down. The DVD ends with a slideshow of Gurney's sketchbook, which is really impressive and is worth watching the DVD for this alone. Overall, it's a great DVD. I honestly have zero complaints. Gurney is an experienced teacher and you can really see that come through here. He is thoughtful and informative, while being very brief and succinct. It's a great companion to his previous DVD How I Paint Dinosaurs. --Dan Dos Santos, Muddy Colors BlogYou really feel like you're there with the artist as he's showing you his methods, and it's fascinating to watch over his shoulder as the paintings take shape. --Dan Zimmer, Illustration magazine P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); About the Actor James Gurney is the New-York-Times bestselling author of Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. His first book is called The Artist's Guide to Sketching, written in 1982 while adventuring cross-country on a freight train. About the Director James Gurney has written over 3,000 posts for the popular art blog GurneyJourney, which supplements this DVD with detailed written supplements and materials lists. See more