Book Review: John Salminen - Master of the Urban Landscape: From realism to abstractions in watercolor

When I first flipped through book, I was blown away by the beauty and amount of detail and effort that went behind each piece of painting featured. John Salminen is definitely a master on urban landscape painting.

This large 192-page hardcover is filled with his amazing paintings almost on every page. The number of pieces featured, each painted at such high quality, is awe-inspiring. I was hooked at each page, taking my time to admire the the intricacy and wondering how is it possible to actually paint like this. Where does one start? How long does each piece take? What techniques did he use?

It's really satisfying to look at the paintings reproduced at large sizes. However, after looking at the book, I really wish to see the originals. I imagine the originals to be more stunning.

There's a sense of realism but the use of colours is slightly stylized so there's a very clear watercolour look. I love how he uses abstraction to suggest details when it's impossible to draw everything. The subject matter in this book are mostly street scenes but there are some paintings with people as focus.

This is definitely one of my favourite artbooks from 2016.

Highly recommended. Well worth the money.

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This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.

John Salminen - Master of the Urban Landscape: From realism to abstractions in watercolor is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.