Following the lead of the old masters, Phillip Shaffer has chosen to paint with a limited palette. Here, in a series of 22 step-by-step demonstrations in which he depicts such beautiful natural settings as Wyoming's Grand Tetons, Hawaii's tropical shores, and Indiana's peaceful farms, Shaffer explores the full and versatile range of colors that can be created from combinations of just four basic hues: burnt sienna (a red), raw sienna (a yellow), cobalt blue, and olive green. He also makes judicious use of three auxiliary hues: new gamboge (a yellow), alizarin crimson (a red), and ultramarine blue.

Limiting one's materials offers the painter certain advantages. The first is cost-the colors Shaffer recommends are relatively inexpensive and can thus be bought in quantity. Second, control with a limited palette, color mixtures are less likely to get out of hand. Third, color coordination-the artist can guarantee almost perfect color coordination because he will be using at least a little bit of each of the four basic hues in just about every composition. Fourth, familiarization-because there are fewer variables, the artist can become totally conversant with the practically infinite possibilities in his limited palette.

To introduce artists to his distinctive method of painting, Shaffer offers informative sections on color mixing and theory, and variations on such basic watercolor techniques as flat and graded washes, drybrush, and painting wet-in-wet. Step-by-step demonstrations focus on ways to handle specific subjects and ways to best exploit particular watercolor techniques.

Shaffer also shows how to correct paintings that go awry, how to take and work from photographs, and how to select mats and frames that will show off your paintings to their best advantage.