5-Minute Watercolor: Super-quick Techniques for Amazing Watercolor Painting

A comprehensive guide to quick sketching in watercolor and a new addition to a successful series.

Praise for 5-Minute Sketching -- Architecture:

"The techniques and supplies chapters highlight ways to work minimally and shave time from the process, which can be especially helpful when drawing outdoors. Either on its own or as a companion to its series mate, this guide will be a boon to readers who want to engage creatively with their urban environments."
--Library Journal (starred review)

Like the other titles in the series, 5-Minute Watercolor features 60 exercises for new and aspiring artists. This bite-sized approach will help readers to make watercolor painting a part of their everyday lives. Every spread in the book features five expert tips and ideas, as well as examples of amazing 5-minute watercolor sketches to inspire readers.

There are four sections:

• Tools - Tools (the basics); tools (optional extras); paints; papers; palettes; brushes; other ways of applying paint; board; pencils; supplies to do even more; setting up the palette; mixing colors; caring for your tools.
• Techniques - Introducing techniques; washes; wet on wet; dry brush; splatter, blooming and bleeding; pulling in color; tape; masking fluid; lifting, layering and glazing (parts I and II); paper and gravity; warm and cool colors; brush control; light to dark, scumbling.
• Implementing Techniques - What is plein-air?; sketching; light sources; 5-minute exercises; skies; rocks; trees; water; landscapes; cityscapes; seascapes; floral compositions; people and crowds; stones and hair.
• Take It Further - Next level painting; changing up the scenery; capturing movement; mixing charts; color swatches; creating depth; mixed media; experimenting with new materials; time is on your side; moving forward; key elements.

The interest in quick sketching as a relaxing pastime is still strong. Watercolor as a medium is experiencing a great resurgence in popularity, with over 17.1 million hashtags on Instagram for #watercolor and over 1.68 million for #watercolorpainting. Instructive videos are extremely popular on YouTube. Some of the most popular are How to Use Watercolor (22.1 million views), How to Paint a Simple Landscape in 2 Minutes (13 million views) and 5-Minute Beginners' Watercolor Tips (945k views).