Watercolor with Me in the Ocean

As a watercolor artist/educator there are times when you simply wish to have fun. This line of books are awesome for beginner watercolorists to advanced artists alike. Each page is made of watercolor paper that is approximately 140lb thickness. There are detailed instructions on the back of the previous painting including the exact colors used (great for color mixing snd matching) and there is a picture of the animal completed with the suggested colors. My only complaint is that the pages to be painted have faint outlines on some and dark on others. If you’re seeking to practice fur, for example, you may not be able to cover the lines completely. There is a solution for this. Simply paint in some form of a background or shadow. These are not coloring pages where marine animals are in there environment as shown on the cover. Each page has a fish or squid (others animals in her other two books) but all that is on each blank page is an outline of the featured animal. An example is that I completed the clown fish page but I had to draw in the coral reef and paint the environment around it myself. If you just want to paint simplistic animals…these are great! If you’re a beginner who wants to enjoy accomplishments, fantastic! The sketch is centered on the page and, as noted before, is outlined much like a graphite sketch. If you complete it, it’s centered, floating in space. Could you remove them, trim down to size and frame, yes. Will you be scrapping the instructions for your next painting, yes. My five year old granddaughter loves these and, with help choosing colors/mixing colors, she’s able to paint the sketches with a water brush. We both enjoy working together on these. I won’t be framing them. I’m not even sure if the pages are acid-free. But…it’s fun and that’s the point. Could I sketch a simple animal and paint it on regular watercolor paper…sure, and I do. These books are awesome for what they are: Basic watercolor books with instructions. So, if you’re looking for a relaxing painting experience…these are for you. You’ll learn shading. For beginners, children five and up, or for someone wanting to play, please consider buying! Last word of advice, the paper will bubble and buckle I’d too much water is used, so I suggest a water brush and a cloth/paper towel close by! Have fun!!

Absolutely love this watercolor book! The steps and suggestions are sufficient and the sketches are cute. It makes being creative easy and helps me gain confidence. There are so many different animals/objects and pages to choose from - it's a great value and I'm really enjoying!!

First, the pictures I uploaded are my paintings from In the Forest, that was a gift to me from a family member. I hope it's ok that I uploaded these as it is all copyrighted. (If not, let me know and I will remove them) I haven't started In the Ocean or In the Jungle yet as I am still working on In the Forest which I am loving. The set up and instructions are in the same format as In the Forest. I use these as warm ups each day to get me loosened up. Her directions are wonderful and easy to follow. The paper in the book is really easy to use with watercolors! It is fun and great practice and you are learning new skills! And it is a confidence builder! I can do it!

Bought this book so a long distance friend and I could do painting sessions over zoom. We are really enjoying it. I have the first book and my enjoyment with it, is what inspired my friend to get this book and for us to do them together. Neither of us have done watercolor before, and despite being intimidated at first, are quite encouraged this is something we CAN do! The books instructions break it down and the pre-sketching helps an immense amount. Sketching is our weakness, so having that portion done really lets us enjoy the painting process. The sea turtle is our first one from the book and we were both happy with our end results. I’d love to see the author put more books out! Especially some watercolor workbooks that are just sketches on good quality watercolor paper so once we “graduate” from instructive books, we had some lovely practice books to work through. (Hint hint hint) Truly love Dana’s work. To those on the fence and intimidated by watercolor: Get the book! You’ll love it.

I bought this book for days when I would like to paint but don't feel creative or don't have time or motivation to also do sketching. For that, it's fine, but not exciting. PROS: Lots of varying images. Good sizes for painting sessions. Decent paper. I've had some success despite being new to it. Works for practice, or just getting some painting in. CONS: Could use more interesting pictures. Colors seem confused/inaccurate sometimes. Instructions are sometimes insufficient. DETAILS: I'm relatively new at watercolor painting. The instructions are okay, but visuals or more detailed would help. I don't think there's a level of detail that will please all reviewers, but for me, sometimes it feels like "And then paint the rest of the picture in." There are also a number of images that are one or two colors and the detail is conveyed by changes in intensity -- yes, probably good practice, but dull to paint. Also, as another reviewer noted, some of the colors described don't seem to be accurate. I happen to have the Cotman watercolors she uses, so I'm not sure why the differences. Print quality, maybe. All that said, there's a good array of pictures, they take a reasonable amount of time to paint (15-45 minutes), and if you just want to dive in it's a pretty good book. I have not had problems with the paper except when I use way too much water. There's also a lot of blank space around the images suitable for practicing backgrounds. It doesn't excite me to pick it up, but it works.

Lots of wonderful watercolors books on the market and this is one of the best. If you love the sea, these step-by-step instructions will be helpful. Directions on one page and the outline for the painter on the opposite. Relax and get out your watercolor paints. . . .fun, fun, fun!

Love this book and the fact you can paint the projects right in the book. The directions are easy to follow.

Hermoso libro, desde que lo tocas parece que todo está pintado de acuarelas te explica cómo puedes crear las imágenes que vienen, ya tiene hecho el boceto para que tú puedas pintarlo realmente es muy bonito totalmente vale l pena

El libro me ha encantado, me parece una maravilla todo, la temática, el papel, el diseño.... La calidad es magnífica. Todo el libro está hecho en papel de acuarela de alta calidad, con textura. Hasta la contraportada es de papel de acuarela y creo que la pintaré cuando ya tenga más experiencia. Me parece una maquetación estupenda, es una idea maravillosa poder hacer los dibujos de los tutoriales directamente en el libro. La encuadernación te permite tener el libro abierto por completo, para tener a la izquierda la explicación y a la derecha el dibujo para hacer. Las instrucciones están en inglés y son completas y sencillas. Te dice desde qué colores usar, cómo mezclarlos, piceles que debes usar, si tienes que poner más o menos agua y dónde pintar. Son muy fáciles de seguir. Del dibujo tenemos el trazo para que con los colores hagas el trabajo y lo termines. Las ilustraciones son muy bonitas, todas con la temática del oceano, unas mucho más sencillas que otras, se nota como va aumentando la dificultad al avanzar el libro. Tenemos: Faro, sirena, estrella de mar, cofre del tesoro, corales, y un montón de animales marinos. Creo que es un libro ideal para ir aprendiendo acuarelas y algunas nociones de dibujo. Me esta gustando mucho y cogeré alguno más de la misma ilustradora.

Stupendo! Perfetto per un principiante! La qualitá della carta nn posso recensirla poichè preferisco non rovinare il libro! Ne approfitto esercitandomi anche con il disegno a mano libera ricreando gli esercizi proposti su carta da acquerello che si trova a prezzi modici su amazon. In inglese ma molto intuitivo!

j'aime beaucoup

+ The projects are very interesting and the instructions are very clear and understandable. - Only issue is the quality of the paper.