A New Book for Watercolor Artists

“Painting Glorious Rose Flowers in Watercolor – in 7 Stages”, by Lela Stankovic

A book equally suitable for both beginners & experienced artists, and for all flower lovers.

An easy to learn from, watercolor painting eBook that will bring your work closer to the professional level. Inside, you will find a detailed demonstration of a new and exciting 7 stages multi-layer watercolor painting technique that teaches you how to create realistic and convincing 3-dimensional rose flower that reaches out of paper to meet you. It will show you how to start, how to paint along and how to fine tune it and know when your painting is finished, while building the knowledge and confidence to paint any subject you choose to paint next.

In this book, Lela takes you step by step through her process of creating a glorious rose watercolor from start to finish.

Learn the reasons behind every brush stroke Lela makes. Learn how to identify and analyze light and shadow areas, avoid common mistakes and how to make your color washes glow with life.

It’s just like watching over Lela’s shoulder while she paints!

What’s Inside the Book?

Lela’s 7 stages creative process for painting watercolors based on the proven techniques of the Old Masters.
The essential painting concepts such as light and shadow and watercolor painting techniques – clear water single and double wetting followed by color application, clear water softening layer, softening the painted edges and dry brush.
A list of all needed tools & material including a recommendation for a well-balanced color palette – which is of the highest quality, transparency and vibrancy.
A step by step painting demonstration of a beautiful rose – which gives you the skills to paint any subject.

“Painting Glorious Rose Flowers in Watercolor – in 7 Stages” – by Lela Stankovic

A Personal Note from Lela Stankovic

I always wanted to be able to create realistic, glowing watercolor paintings that have true presence. I imagined my paintings having deep, rich, jewel like colorful shadows and contrasting sparkling lights – the lights and shadows together creating a fairy tale world of joy and happiness which is magically realistic.

In my early beginnings, I did not think it was possible that watercolor as a medium would be capable of such an effect. Now, I am so thrilled that I kept trying, didn’t give up, and finally developed this “7-stages Multi-Layered Watercolor Painting Style”!

In this eBook, I am happy to share this painting style with you. You will be amazed how vibrant and intense watercolor paintings become once you start using this process. Often, looking from a distance, the watercolors, painted in this style can hardly be distinguished from oil paintings.

Regardless of your painting experience, I invite you to use this book as a personal, step-by-step “how to” teacher that will hold your hand from the beginning of the painting to the very end, explaining every step along the way.

Most importantly, I hope this book serves as a guide to help you observe, analyze and truly “see” your painting subject. This skill becomes an invaluable tool in true-to-life painting and in understanding why you are doing what you are doing. The knowledge you acquire along will serve you well in painting any subject you wish to paint, broaden your horizons, empower development of your own painting style, and bring your art closer to the professional level.

As a short summary, here is what I would like to see you acomplish by learning from this eBook:

Deepen your observation skills with this real world “how-to” guide: You will find a detailed explanation of light and shadow areas. This is considered by many artists as the single most important foundational block for any realistic painting. You will be able to create completely real, three-dimensional objects in your paintings, so real that the viewers would feel as if they can reach inside and grab the objects out of your painting.

Learn essential watercolor painting techniques: These key techniques will teach you how to apply water and paint so that the effect you desire is fully in your control. You will be able to control the watercolor paint – and not vice versa, and make it go where you want it to go. This will help you paint any texture you desire and eliminate undesired hard edges and “cauliflowers” forever from your paintings.

Make your subjects glow with life: You learn to apply color in such a way that each color layer glows through the subsequent top color layers and the viewer feels as if there is a light bulb glowing behind the painting.

Transparent shadows and glowing lights will make your watercolors equal oil paintings in luminosity and richness, while preserving the freshness and fluidity of the watercolor medium.

Know when your painting is finished: My goal in this book is also to help you be aware of where you are in the process of completing the painting. The 7-Stages Multi-Layered Watercolor Painting Process will teach you how to analyze your painting subject and paint it from the very beginning to the end – knowing exactly when your painting is finished.

Learn a systematic process which makes it easy to paint any subject: This systematic step-by-step approach to observing and analyzing your painting subject is repeatable, so you can apply it to anything you wish to paint. We cannot paint what we cannot see. This painting style will teach how to really see 3-dimensional objects, how to analyze their form, how to achieve desired color vibrancy, how to control softness of color transitions and thoroughly make your work stand out. Your viewers will be able to see your paintings the way you see them.

Plan for success with a small set of paints and brushes: I have listed and explained all the tools and art supplies you need to paint along with me in this book. My goal is to guide you towards a small set of high quality tools which are not too expensive, and which you can use to paint a wide variety of subjects. I have also tried to make my guide flexible (by sharing with you the names of actual pigments in my paints) so that you are clear about how to choose the paints from what you may already have – or when buying paints from brands different from what I have used.

Paint along with me following a step-by-step painting demonstration: Together we will follow through a detailed demonstration of the rose painting. In addition, this book also has an Appendix section which shows how the rose leaves look like when painted through each of the 7 stages – so you can learn and advance further on your own.

Gain encouragement and support to bring your confidence to the next level: Learning new skills always brings immeasurable joy and fulfilment allowing us to enjoy and experience life at its fullest extent. But then, there are days when our confidence isn’t in the greatest shape. You might feel as if you have reached a dead zone, you do not progress any further, and can’t find your way out from these tight spots. You might even choose an impulsive move out of despair – and destroy all your hard work in just a few brush strokes. In these situations, having a systematic process like this to guide you and tell you what to do next, will do wonders for your confidence.

Wishing you much success!

Thank You,

Lela Stankovic