Learn to paint 25 stunning watercolours using only three colours and three brushes each time. 

With guidance from all your favourite professional watercolour artists including Matthew Palmer, Geoff Kersey, and more, discover how to paint colourful watercolours using a selection of three pure colours and their many mixes, and only three brushes to create some truly stunning artworks.

The 25 featured projects explore a variety of themes, including landscapes, seascapes, flowers, mountains, lakes and rivers and snow scenes, across an exciting range of subjects.

This collection of projects, tips and techniques is taken from the Take Three Colour series from Search Press and includes work by artists Julie King and Matthew Palmer, Geoff Kersey, Grahame Booth and Stephen Coates. Twenty-five projects are included that explore a variety of watercolour techniques and subjects using just three watercolours and three brushes. Projects include landscapes, seascapes, flowers, mountains, lakes and rivers and snow scenes.

The idea of this series is a brilliant way of simplifying the painting process, either for the beginner or as a palate-cleanser for someone with more experience who’s become a bit jaded.

With just three brushes and three colours, a team of Search Press’s most successful authors demonstrate projects that show just how much you can do with an absolute minimum of equipment. With little to mess around with, the emphasis is on creativity and making the most of what you have. There’s no chance to over-complicate or get bogged down with an unwieldy palette or too many mixes.

This bind-up is fantastically good value and covers landscapes, seascapes and flowers, with more concentrated subjects such as lakes, rivers, hills and mountains thrown in. Larger books such as this can be difficult to handle, but this falls and stays open nicely and is a pleasure to use.

It sometimes seems as though too many art books start with a long list of items you “have” to buy which will empty the store, and your bank account! How refreshing it is them to encounter a book like this where all you need to buy are three brushes and three tubes of watercolor paint. Interested? I certainly was!

This is a new compendium volume which includes material from six earlier books in Search Press’ Take Three Colours series. If you have all or some of these titles this is not new material. I am new to this particular series so was intrigued, and soon discovered what a great way to work it is especially for beginners. Subjects covered are various types of landscape, seascapes and floral studies. Because this is a compendium of six books by five different artists not every author uses the same three colors or brushes, but there is considerable overlap if you want to try them all. Each book contains four projects and a short introduction listing what you need (not much) and showing examples of mixed colors and various useful tips. Every project consists of staged photographs with captions explaining how to progress until the painting is complete. A little is added in each stage, making it all very doable for beginners and anybody like me who is a wee bit rusty and wants to limber up a long unused artistic muscle. The finished painting is shown in whole page format so you can see it in greater detail, and there is a handy glossary of terms at the back. I can wholeheartedly recommend this book.

Julie King lives in Kent. She was brought up in March in Cambridgeshire where she attended Cambridge College of Arts and Technology to pursue a Foundation in Art, followed by a degree in Printed Textile design, at Trent Polytechnic Nottingham achieving a First class (Hons). She then went on to design household textiles, wallpapers and prints for ceramics inspired by her love of flowers.

Julie is a regular contributor to Leisure Painter magazine, and has written a number of art books.

Matthew Palmer is a renowned demonstrator of watercolour painting, and his classes are particularly popular with beginners. He has been painting professionally for over 20 years and specializes in landscapes, still life and animals. He has his own studio at his home in Derbyshire, UK and teaches hundreds of people each week, as well as running watercolour workshops and holidays. He has many personal exhibitions, participates in several art shows and appears regularly on television as well as on his own internet-based art show at www.watercolour.tv.

Geoff Kersey is an experienced watercolourist and is much in demand as a teacher and demonstrator. He lives and works in Derbyshire, where he has a studio, and he exhibits extensively. He has made many watercolour DVDs, contributes to various art publications and has written many best-selling watercolour books. He now runs highly successful online tutorials via his website www.watercolourlandscapes.co.uk.

Grahame Booth tutors workshops and holiday courses around the world. He is a popular demonstrator for art clubs and his paintings have been awarded many national and international awards. His work is featured in books, videos and art magazines, including Artists & Illustrators. Grahame is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His work is represented in private collections worldwide and in public collections in Ireland and the USA. He is Past President of the Ulster Watercolour Society and a member of the Watercolour Society of Ireland.

To see more of Grahame's work visit www.grahamebooth.com.

Stephen Coates was born in Sheffield in 1960. Son of a draughtsman, he was introduced to drawing at a very young age. He excelled in art at school but chose a career in retail, working first in the music industry for 16 years followed by another 16 years running his own catering business. In 2011 he traded his sandwich business for a career in art and teaching. Stephen exhibits at a variety of art shows and loves to share his experiences with people.

Visit Stephen's website www.coatesart.co.uk.