Painting Nature's Hidden Treasures

In this inspiring companion to the acclaimed "Zoltan Szabo Paints Landscapes," one of the most brilliant watercolorists of the 20th century shows how to paint nature close-ups in 40 full-color step-by-step demonstrations.

Szabo begins by explaining how to select and record your subject in on-the-spot sketches and photos-and how to redesign, simplify, dramatize, and transform this raw material into a vivid personal statement.

He also demonstrates how to paint seven different categories of close-ups-preceded by a fascinating collection of painting tips about each subject. Szabo begins by showing you how to paint the magical effects of light and shadow on snow, rocks, and other natural forms. Searching the forest for inspiration, he demonstrates how to paint a variety of subjects, including sunlit leaves and cobwebs on a tree trunk. Exploring the patterns of water, Szabo even discovers hidden beauty in a puddle on a muddy road.

Szabo, famous for his winter paintings, reveals how he paints footprints in a snowy field, icicles, and frosty trees. When focusing on the beauty of wildflowers, Szabo uses subjects ranging from a single thistle in the wind to a cluster of blossoms in a meadow. The artist shows how to discover what he calls nature's abstractions, like the shape of a dead leaf caught among the branches or a spiderweb against the sky. He leads you around the house to find unexpected beauty in a wasp nest or a fallen feather on a pebbly path. And he shows you how to extract multiple paintings from a single subject by painting a series of variations on one handsome theme.

"Painting close-ups will not only give you a whole new range of subjects," Szabo claims, "but will add a new dimension to your work as you explore the hidden treasure of nature." "Painting Nature's Hidden Treasures" can bolster the technique of every watercolorist.

Zoltan Szabo was born in Hungary in 1928 and studied at the National Academy of Industrial Art in Budapest. He emigrated to Canada in 1949, and made a name for himself as one of Canada's foremost landscape painters. In addition to teaching workshops and seminars on watercolor painting, Szabo has exhibited his work in London, Canada, and the United States. Zoltan Szabo's paintings are found in public and private collections worldwide, including those of the prime ministers of Canada and Jamaica and in the National Gallery of Hungary. Other books by Zoltan Szabo include "Landscape Painting in Watercolor," "Painting Little Landscapes," and "Zoltan Szabo Paints Landscapes."