Customer Reviews
A typically generous artist. - By: Mrs. R. B. L. Clarke, 12 Jan 2008 
A no rules approach to watercolour painting, very encouraging & informative. This book bins a lot of watercolour folklore. A good investment for the experienced painter who wants to push the boundaries further, especiallly still life of fruit & flowers. Only artists who are very talented, & realize that the source of their creativity is themselves, are as generous with the fruits of their experience, Shirley is one of those. She deserves her success.
inspirational stuff - By: , 20 Jul 2005 A truly inspiring book giving an insight into how Shirley Trevena works. Dont buy it if youre looking for a step by step guide to producing a painting- this book is alll about giving you the confidence to explore your own style rather than trying to use standard techniques to achieve a `result` as so many other books do.
As a practising artist,I found the book fascinating & a real insight into the authors methods of painting. It fired me up to try new ideas & could do the same for you !
A lovely book and a must-buy for any aspiring watercolourist - By: , 04 Jul 2005 This is a beautiful book full of pictures of Shirley Trevena's unique & wonderful paintings. Those familiar with her work will also be pleased to see some of her less-known subject matter, such as figures, & landscapes, as well as her fantastic flower & still life paintings. Shirley's rule-free & try-it anything-goes approach to painting is very liberating & inspirational as are the pictures in the book themselves. I was interested to hear the story of how she began painting with watercolours & her initial tribulations with this difficult medium, & this was very heartening for those of us still struggling. You won't regret buying this book.
A beautiful book - By: lynsey adams, 18 Feb 2005 This is simply a beautiful book. I have long admired Shirley Trevena's work, & was so pleased to see a book from her at last. It does not disappoint.
An artist myself for many years, normallly a lover of landscapes & abstract art, this book comes near the top of my list for anyone who is serious about their painting - well, even if not, still buy it for the inspiration.
Shirley takes the most difficult of mediums, watercolour, & works magic with it. She takes the most deadly of subjects, still life, & makes it vibrantly interesting. She breaks alll the rules of perspective, technique (backruns & blobs look beautiful), & truly does take risks. The results are amazing - despite having bought the accompanying video, & read the book from cover to cover, I know that I could never produce work like this if I tried for the rest of my life. Normallly this would put me off buying a book, yet here the work is not 'looking down on us from a great height'; the subjects are familiar, it looks as though it MIGHT be achievable - at some undefined point in the distant future!
This is not a book for the beginner - it doesn't take you through the usual range of exercises designed to start you off in watercolour. There are thousands of books out there that will do that, (and you still won't be able to do it!)
The author is an artist of great ability & experience. She does not patronise the reader, is honest about showing us the way she works, the little tricks she might use to get the effect she wants - without being at alll gimmicky. Her work might look as though she has thrown it alll together in a few hours, but this is very far from the case.
She is still developing new ways of working, going in new directions,(landscape, printmaking), even returning to her beginnings as a figure painter. I hope she will continue to produce these fabulously unique & inspirational watercolours as well.
Buy the book! You can't fail to love it.
