Set Your Paintings Apart with the Power of Light!
Like a favorite song, Susan Bourdet's melodious watercolors will carry you away. Her paintings, each a snapshot of a special moment in time, unfold note by note, layer by layer. Even after you look away, you may find her work lingering in your memory, forever impressed on your soul. In her latest book, Susan sheds light on how you, too, can draw a viewer in, hold them there, and impress upon them your vision of beauty. Transform your art from paintings of objects to paintings of light and you'll find they grow richer and more inspired. Let Susan show you how!

Painting Convincing Light
Quite the challenge, eh' But, with this book, a very achievable (and exciting!) one. Through simple concepts and detailed step-by-step demonstrations, Susan demystifies the process and shows you how to:
* Tell a story and convey a sense of time through the quality and placement of light and shadows.
* Engage the senses by painting sunlight that is warm and mellow or cool and wintry.
* Master essential color principles, including how to achieve the most luminous mixtures and glowing shadows.
* Paint different types of light'bright light, soft and ambient light, backlight, even light on water.
* Paint realistic textures, including aspen and birch bark, weathered wood, mossy stones, terra cotta pots, old watering cans, leaded glass windows, garden insects and soft fur.
* Create rich, evocative backgrounds that suggest depth and really focus attention on your subjects.
* Take exciting, light-filled reference photos and combine them into believable compositions that really sing.

Capture the Magic in 23 Glowing Demos!
The final chapter puts together all the lessons you've learned into four spectacular painting demonstrations. Each one has a different challenging subject and a different set of problems to solve:
* Floral composition: For this wisteria piece, the 'hook' is the complementary color scheme.
* Light through a window: This little painting is all about light shining through glass, illuminating the interior scene.
* Light on white subjects: This painting is about what happens to white when you add the magic of sunlight.
* Soft light: A gentle, quiet moment cast in a soft and subtle light.

Tell Your Story with Light
This book will teach you how to use light to tell any story that touches your artistic heart. Use it to fill your painting with realistic characters, evocative passages, and a compelling sense of time and place. Use it to add warmth, interest and intensity to your compositions, and take your work to the next level.