As a teacher of watercolor painting for over 50 years, Rae Andrews has had the privilege of watching students grow in their artistic journeys. Many beginning artists are pushing to adopt a style before they learn the basics, such as drawing and color mixing. Rae doesn’t believe any new artist should be in such a rush to develop a style. That will come over time and with practice. Rae is a colorist and loves design. Hence, her paintings tend to have a different look that often surprises the viewers. She’s discovered that color and a dramatic choice of value help stimulate the eye and individualize her work.

This book contains 10 watercolor demonstrations that showcase the different approaches Rae uses in her paintings. She expects her students to experiment with their own color theory and compositional alternatives by drawing often and trying different subjects. Not every demonstration will resonate with every student, however, the many approaches and techniques that Rae has demonstrated should certainly give any artist more creative options to develop the look they want in their paintings.

Watercolor is such a spontaneous medium, full of surprises and sometimes messes, or ‘stinkers’, as Rae calls them. She advises students to explore the many exciting properties and find their way to keep that magical discovery alive. 

Rae’s motto is: “Dare to be different and above all, have fun.”

AVAILABLE on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com

REVIEWS

“I have learned so much in Rae Andrew’s classes.  She shares more useful information than I have ever gotten from any other art class. I am always amazed at her generosity.”

– Paula Henley, New Hampshire

“I’ve taken lots of classes, but I’ve learned the most valuable techniques from Rae Andrews. I couldn’t recommend her classes higher for people of every level of painting.  Even extremely experienced painters will learn something new from her. I have found my style loosening up so much. I’m becoming more ‘artistic’ which is so much fun.”

– Robin Nelson, Connecticut

“I’ve been doing watercolour for 3 or so years now. I love it so much. I’ve watched many talented and generous artists sharing on YouTube, and Rae Andrews is most certainly one of the best, in talent and in teaching … She is so articulate it’s amazing, and she shares SO MUCH brilliant information so elegantly and with such apparent ease it’s amazing. I’ve been a teacher of various things over years, and I deeply recognize Rae’s gift as a teacher as well as an artist. Wow. I’ll find and watch every one of her videos, and probably watch each one several times at least to soak in all the wonderful knowledge Rae shares. Her love of watercolour shines through. I’m very glad to have found her!”

– Sherry Webster, SE Queensland, Australia

About the Author

Rae Andrews is an International teacher with 50 years of teaching experience. A native Australian, Rae went into hairdressing in Sydney as a career after finishing school. However, she always painted and harbored a dream of becoming a full-time artist, even in those early years. While running several of her hair salons, Rae began teaching art in the 1970s as well, and in 1982 she sold all of her businesses to go to college and get her degree in art.

An entrepreneur at heart, she founded an art school in the Sydney northern beach suburb of Narrabeen. Her school quickly grew with the popularity of her teaching methods.

Life changed when Rae married her American husband, Thomas, and they moved to the island of Maui in Hawaii. During her 12 years on the island, Rae owned two art galleries and traveled back to Australia for many years to conduct workshops.

Home is now in Austin, Texas, where Rae teaches online Zoom classes and workshops in her studio. She also conducts travels to Europe to teach workshops there.


Go to raeandrews.com to see more of her work.