[.ca] The Tao of Watercolor: A Revolutionary Approach to the ... (ISBN 0823050572)

The Tao of Watercolor:
Beautiful to look at, lovely to touch and magical to read, The Tao of Watercolor is all this and more. In a mere 112 pages, Ms Carbonetti manges to entertwine aspects of living with aspects of painting. She gives the reader a birds-eye view of how one goes about bridging the gap between play and work, between spontaneous expression and careful decision making. It is important that the painter have had a class or two under their belt to receive the highest benefit from this book. Jeanne Carbonetti includes exercises that help the painter move through the chapters with ease. She gives demos as well as simple explanations of the techniques. Ms. Carbonetti is straight-forward when she describes The Tao of Watercolor as A Revolutionary Approach to the Practice of Painting. Basically the author gives the painter permission to try new ways of painting AND new ways of living our lives. Ths approach may not be for everyone, however what the reader receives is worth purchasing the book.

Not the place to learn watercolor - or much else:
I purchased this book hoping that it would help me loosen up my watercolor painting. I was disappointed enough to return it, something I rarely do. Clearly, this author has found an enthusiastic audience to which to sell these books and her paintings, but I suspect they are something of a fringe group. That's fine, but I recommend you look over this book thoroughly before committing to purchasing it. There is basically no instruction that will teach you to do a watercolor painting in anything but vague, fuzzy, garishly colored (she really, really likes bright pink) paintings that call to my mind the tie-died T-shirts of the 60's. I was also put off by the self-portrayal of the author as a kind of artistico-spiritual guru. In her experience, she says, all watercolor students fall into one of two categories: those who never finish a picture because they are too hung up on doing things just so, and those who would like to play but don't know how--left brain types and right brain types. She assures us she has had an epiphany and is now beyond such limitations. If you buy her books, she'll share her higher wisdom. Well, good for her, she's got her audience. There are Taoist quotes at the beginning of the chapters, but if you want to explore that philosophy, you'd be better off with a source that truly addresses it. If you want to learm how to do watercolors, this is not the place to do it.

Not for beginners:
This book is wonderful to look through and has a mystical feeling to it but the actual instructions for the paintings are very poor. I tried some of the demonstrations and even though I liked the end result, the instructions are vague. I would not recomend this book to beginners but rather to people who want to loosen up their paintings.

Tao painting:
This is an excellent volume for beginning and advanced watercolorists. The technique is simple and yet commanding in the use of large color washes that appear to be ephemeral and mystic. The book gives good instructions in tapping into your own inner power and letting it flow forth, creating a loose and yet dynamic painting. This book is well worth the money and time to peruse it.

Stunning technique, eye-opening creative methods:
Even if you didn't paint, you might find this book worthwhile just to look at the paintings. But if you love watercolor and want to break out of the "box", this is for you. It is wonderful to see how Jeanne Carbonetti takes simple washes and splatters and creates glowing watercolors that make you say "Wow" over and over. Very inspiring to anyone who seeks to change how they paint.