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Add Life to Your Paintings!
Transparent watercolor reveals the play of light like no other medium. Like stained glass, light passes through the pigments, hits the paper and bounces back again. Pouring watercolor offers even more unique opportunities to portray light.

A workshop instructor for over 25 years (and it shows in the power and accessibility of her teaching), Jean will introduce you to this bold and intriguing method of painting: juicy pigments are mixed in separate containers and allowed to flow freely on the wet paper, layered one upon the next in transparent veils of color. While it may sound like pure luck, you'll see that the real trick is balancing the 'chaos' of free-flowing color with the 'control' of a strong design, a working understanding of color, and strategic masking.

Pouring produces flowery, juicy blends that make watercolor sing and lighting effects that are out of this world. Find Freedom: Put down your brush, pick up some plastic cups, and pour on the color!

Think Before You Pour
Happy pours require advanced planning. The wild abandon of the pour is tempered with an understanding of how colors will interact, a simple composition that fits your expressive concept, and masking to preserve the whites.... All this preliminary planning will free you to paint even more creatively!

On all counts, Jean shares what works for her, perfected through years of trial and error. (Take advantage--it will save you some time and paper!) For example, by limiting her palette to the three primary colors, she assures harmony and unity in the painting. She also offers tips for applying masking fluid and making its removal a quick and painless process.

Controlled Abandon
Once the design is set and the masking is in place, it's time for some good, exciting 'chaos!' After an abundance of wonderful exercises on the techniques and planning needed for a successfully poured painting, the book concludes with a series of step-by-step demonstrations. The purpose of these projects is not to just show you how to paint a palm tree or a beach scene, but to show you how pouring lends itself to weaving together backgrounds and foregrounds or evoking luminous cast shadows. These lessons teach you skills you can adapt to pour and paint your own world.

Why Pour'
The greatest thrill of pouring is the way colors mingle on the wet paper in the most extraordinary ways, resulting in sparkling color surprises that will affect, charm and entertain your viewer. 'Skies may turn yellow, seas orange and trees purple,' Jean muses. 'Shapes will still remain familiar and identifiable while the mood and emotion of the painting prevail.'

The differences between direct brushwork and pouring are greater than you might realize. The manner in which the pigment meets the paper is quite different, of course, but so is the thinking prior to pouring. Pouring requires planning, and planning leads to better composition.

Many of us learned early on to paint the subject first (the positive spaces) and worry about the background (negative spaces) later. But when you pour, you must consider the entire space within the borders of your picture simultaneously, resulting in more interesting shapes (positive and negative) within an integrated whole.

Pour Your Heart Out
You will be fascinated by the paintings and unbelievable lighting effects in this book: morning light coming through fog, turning people into silhouettes and bathing them in a warm, glowing atmosphere. The mysterious mood, muted shadows and golden warmth of twilight. Light pouring through a piece of glass. What's even more intriguing is the prospect that you, too, can achieve such watercolor feats! Just be patient. Do the planning. The reward is worth it: glazes of transparent color that cannot be created in any other way!