Jo Taylor - Watercolor Wisdom

W ATERCOLOUR W ISDOM

Watercolor
Wisdom

Lessons from a
Lifetime of painting
and Teaching

Jo Taylor, AWS

About the Author

Jo Taylor is a well-known artist and teacher who has earned local, state and national recognition. Her formal education was at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, and at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico, where she studied as an exchange student. For years, Taylor took every possible opportunity to study with professional artists and teachers from the California and New York professional art schools. Her entries and awards earned her active membership and signature status in the American Watercolor Society in 1977, making her the first woman from Texas to achieve that honor. She is one of the charter members and a signature member of the Southwestern Watercolor Society in Dallas, Texas. She was elected an honorary member of the New Mexico Watercolor Society and the watercolor society inMt. Pleasant, Texas, and she has been made an honorary member of the board for the Rockwall Artists League in Texas.

Taylor painted full time for gallery shows for nearly seven years. Her paintings appear in museums as well as private and corporate collections. Several of her award-winning paintingshave been accepted into the permanent collection at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, as part of a collection from a private entity.

Taylor has taught seminars and workshops throughout the country. She taught as a fulltime painting instructor at Northeast Texas Community College in Mt. Pleasant for fourteenyears, attaining faculty emerita status. It was while teaching there that her basic concepts of design were more finely honed and became the central focus of her painting and teaching. Her reputation well established, students were soon driving great distances to study with her. Taylor carefully analyzed and critiqued her advanced students' weekly output while gently guiding the beginning students through their preliminary exercises. The college gladly sponsored successful summer workshops for Taylor at the Instituto in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Taylor resides in Rockwall, Texas. Visit her website at www.JoTaylorAWS.com.

Metric Conversion Chart

Watercolor Wisdom. Copyright 2003 by Jo Taylor. Manufactured in Singapore. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236.
(800) 289-0963. First edition.

07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taylor, Jo.

Watercolor wisdom : lessons from a lifetime of painting and teaching /
Jo Taylor1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-58180-240-4 (alk. paper)

ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-497-2 (EPUB)

eISBN: 978-1-44031-756-9

1. Watercolor paintingTechnique. I. Title.

ND2420 .T39 2003
751.42'2dc21

2002029529
CIP

Editor: Stefanie Laufersweiler
Cover designer: Lisa Buchanan
Interior designer: Wendy Dunning
Production artist: Rebecca Blowers
Production coordinator: Mark Griffin

Acknowledgments

I give my deepest appreciation to the great artists and teachers from the past and present who generously shared their knowledge with me.

I want to thank every one of my family members who in so many ways contributed to the making of this book. Thanks especially to my son-in-law, Ron Morgan, who taught me how to use a computer and gave me his personal emergency phone number, which we quickly came to refer to as 9-1-1. Thanks to my daughter Mary Aslan for her help, especially for transporting paintings to the photographers and for her constant encouragement. Thanks to my dear son, Bob Taylor, whose right arm of support extended a long distance, and to another daughter, Beth Morgan, who lived next door and listened to page-by-page problems. Thanks to my dear sister Nenie Duncanan artist herselffor her evaluations and for saving us from bologna sandwiches. If my husband had been my press agent all of these years, I would have had international and universal recognition; thank you, Jodie, for your interest and support. Last but not least, I thank my friends who gave me encouragement, love and friendship despite years of absolute neglect on my part.

Deepest appreciation to my friend and colleague, Dr. Olive J. Theisen, for proofreading my manuscript and making me look like a good speller. Many thanks to my dear friend Faber F. McMullen for many years of giving me motivation, confidence and encouragement for the development of this book.

Thank you to Angie Kedersha and the entire staff at BWC Photo Imaging in Dallas, Texas, for their cooperation and efficiency in doing the photography for this book. A special thanks to Cindy Newton for her excellent photography.

It has been such a pleasure to work with every person that I have come into contact with at North Light Books. Thanks especially to Greg Albert, who first contacted me years ago about doing a book. My sincere thanks to the entire staff, who gave me the ultimate compliment in their selection of the title for this book. My deepest appreciation to Rachel Wolf and Stefanie Laufersweiler, whose help and encouragement were invaluable to me.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my students, who have perhaps taught me the most.

Many of the students mentioned in this book were in my private classes before I began teaching at Northeast Texas Community College. Many of these students joined my classes there. Some of these students are of professional status now and have signature ranking in top art organizations. I am forever amazed at their individuality, which can only happen when students originate their own subject matter and modes of painting. To all of these wonderful students I directed my information, love and encouragement. They gave me the inspiration to gather material for this book. I make my humble bow to you, dear students.