Flowers in Watercolor

~Please see note at end of description~

You’re invited to sit in on a session with master watercolorist Charles Reid as he creates a beautiful scene featuring a smattering of realistic flowers. During this art instruction video, you’ll journey back to 1988 for a step-by-step lesson in how to create luminous flowers in watercolor.

During the course of this video, Charles is often silent, only adding voice-over instruction to address what’s currently going on in the painting. Charles begins the lesson with what appears to be a deconstructed composition, and demonstrates his technique for sketching elements without ever lifting his pencil from the page. He shows how this process helps him to become more attuned to the shapes that will soon populate his painting.

This watercolor DVD will show you how to set up your painting area, the proper use of a brush, why and how to allow the paint to mix on the paper, and how to work in sections. Charles will supply clear yet quiet tips about how to assess the way color and shape relate to form, his technique for assessing the correct amount of water in his brush, ways to create variety in your painting, and how to tell when it's time to quit.

Charles is a master at maintaining achieving “smoothness” in a painting without losing any energy or spontaneity, and will teach you how to do the same in your own work. Although it can take many years to become fully confident in your watercolor painting techniques, Charles reminds workshop participants to get regular practice. Only through constant execution will you be able to control your disasters, and achieve a more realistic scene on the canvas.

NOTE: This DVD has good information, but is definitely dated (produced in 1988).  By today's standards, it's gray and a bit out of focus. (I think the cause is because it was transferred to digital from film.) Also, the style is dated. You see Reid setting up a scene and paint while you hear a voice-over that talks about his process in general terms. Altho it pertains to what you see on camera, it is not specific. Also, the camera is further back than is generally the case in newer films. I would not describe this as a step-by-step workshop.