Book Review - Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits

Having a collection of about 100 art books I'm not inclined to buy any more, especially as bookshelf space is at a premium. However I am easily tempted and having bought many off Amazon in the past I constantly receive e-mails from them prompting me (they hope!) to buy more.

This modest little book was one such they recommended and as it was inexpensive I decided to take the plunge. One reason for doing so was that I, up to now, have based my colour choices on those of Charles Reid which basically are skin combinations of Cadmium Red Light, Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna plus Cerulean. He does use other colours when painting people of different ethnicity but these are the main ones.

As well as Charles Reid I greatly admire the work of several other artists who paint portraits in watercolour, Lin Fealing, Stephie Butler, Stan Miller, Janet Rogers. Ted Nuttall and some of the Asian artists. And there are many others. The thing is they often use different colour combinations and I wondered if I ought to experiment a little more, especially as I regard my portrait painting still very much a work in progress. It may always remain so.

Approx.10" x 61/2"  48 pages £6.99p Amazon

MORE THAN 500 COLOR COMBINATIONS FOR SKIN, EYES, LIPS AND HAIR'

This isn't just about watercolour as other mediums feature but the basic principals relate to all. The author is William F.Powell who is described as `an internationally recognized artist and one of America's foremost colourists'. 

The book is composed of profusely illustrated descriptive pages, all similar in layout to those above. I haven't actually used it much - yet - but I think it could be very useful. Is it worth buying? Certainly if you are into portraits or even figures it could be very helpful and at the price - second hand copies are even cheaper -  is a steal.