John P.'s Profile

2 Reviews

I'm a full time artist and still learned a lot from this video. I intend to purchase a copy and have rented his other (earlier) video. The camera angles are useful: I could see how he used the brush which in my opinion is everything with this guy. He doesn't meticulously explain the exact colors he mixes (and says so himself) so absolute beginners may find that lacking. They will certainly benefit from seeing how he applies his color. He does show and explain which colors are on his palette though, and he uses very conventional mixes most watercolorists know - its worth renting this to see how a fairly limited palette can do a lot. There are 5 subjects demonstrated and each addresses slightly different issues. You see him complete each subject with only negligible editing: You can see everything needed to get to the finished result. Most of what is cut is drying time between paint applicaions. In my opinion Zbukvic is the best of a group of very good painters all based in the Melbourne area. The Croatian/Australian accent isn't too distracting ("highlight" sounds like "harlot") especially since everything he says is shown.

This DVD is just as well produced as Zbucvik's other one (Watercolor on Location), though I gather it was his first one. It may be more for intermediate painters than beginners. It should be of particular interest to plein air painters: It's instructive to see a pro get into trouble and how he resolves it. In a Venice canal location a garbage boat parks in front of the scene being painted while the tide come in and floods the area...and he manages to work around it all to a satisfying conclusion. On a Melbourne street scene he initially misjudges his first washes but corrects things skillfully enough to use the picture on the face of the DVD. This guy is just a good plain painter - no gimmicky techniques, formulas or recipes. He's all about seeing and translating that into watercolor. You need a bit of experience with the medium and sound drawing skills to work like he does but he gets a real sense of natural light and atmosphere. I'll probably buy this one too.