The Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook — MacKenzie helps demystify the process of selecting from among the dizzying array of paints, papers, brushes, palettes, palette knives, and masking materials available. He shares insights on how to judge a brush, which hairs are best for what, the characteristics of different brands and colors of watercolor, and why using good quality paper is so important, even for a beginner. The majority of this volume contains techniques and instruction on how to put together your composition. However, it also teaches artists about how paints interact with water, laying a graded wash, fading out, options for working wet-in-wet, masking, developing a series of paintings, intuition vs. planning, and working with mistakes. Over 700 color images are featured throughout.

The Watercolorist’s Essential Notebook: Landscapes — The second of Gordon MacKenzie’s watercolor notebooks focuses on basic landscape elements, such as water, sky, and land. Special mini demos deal with capturing important details, including trees, mountains, waves, clouds, sunsets and more. 30 step-by-step demonstrations break down each element of the painting process and teach the foundations of strong composition, all the while emphasizing the development of your own individual style to create unique and compelling watercolor landscapes. Easy-to-follow exercises are illustrated in an accessible format that invites you to begin painting immediately. 400 color photos are featured throughout.