My 1st book : Deep Impress

Flip Book Review

Review from famous art reviewer : Teoh Yi Chie

Deep Impress: Watercolor Study with Scenery of Bangkok is the watercolour artbook by Ekaraj Worasamutprakarn (or just Ekaraj Ohn), a watercolour artist based in Bangkok, Thailand. I was searching online for his work and found out he also does a bit of concept and fantasy art which explains some of the fantasy elements in this book.

This squarish hardcover has 156-pages of gorgeous watercolour paintings, instructions and a step-by-step process breakdown. It’s a beautiful book that also teaches.

The paintings are of Bangkok scenes and cover temples, streets, floating markets, Chaophraya river, Thai Grand Palace and other well-known places.

Ekaraj Ohn’s style really plays to the strength of watercolour. His strokes are bold and confident, and yet there’s this looseness that invites your mind to fill in the details. There’s lovely and masterful use of wet-on-wet techniques, suggestions, colours and composition. The paintings really capture my attention and make me look around.

His style also makes his painting feel like they were painted from a different era. I can’t really pinpoint how he does it. Maybe it’s got to do with the light and colours. The mood and atmosphere he captures are so appropriate for a country so rich in culture.

There are a few paintings that tell the story of some Thai legend or folklore and there were giants in the paintings. That surprised me because I didn’t expect giants to appear suddenly in book with watercolour landscape paintings. It’s a pleasant surprise because those paintings of legends looked like they belong in this book because of the similar painting style used.

There are captions for each paintings talking about the places such as the temples and streets. Ekaraj Ohn mentioned he didn’t like going to temples in the past but after starting watercolour that changed. I laughed because I share the same experience. Now I’m really into temples, churches, mosques, cathedrals.

About one-third of the book is dedicated to painting instructions. There are tips on colour mixing, light and shadow, composition, drafting, colour temperature, perspective and there are also some step-by-step photos that guide you through his painting process. The instructions are insightful and of course, the beautiful artworks are inspiring.

This is a wonderful watercolour artbook from Ekaraj Ohn.

This review was done by one of the best reviewer blog, Teoh Yi Chie at www.parkablogs.com.