James Gurney

I don't remember if I've mentioned James Gurney before. He is both a realist painter and an illustrator/concept artist. If you have kids who love dinosaurs, you may have seen his book, Dinotopia.

Link to Gurney's blog: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.ca/ Lots to explore here!

A recent post on Lines and Colors described Gurney's Fantasy in the Wild vid and provided a link to an earlier discussion and many pics of Gurney's Watercolor in the Wild (downloadable vid):
http://linesandcolors.com/2014/08/29/james-gurneys-watercolor-in-the-wild/

Definitely worth a look if you would like some tips on using watercolor "en plein air."

His book Color and Light is worth looking at as well: http://jamesgurney.com/site/213/color-and-light-a-guide-for-the-realist-painter

Gouache Virtuosi

I wonder if gouache has a reputation for being even harder to work with than watercolor. At any rate, here's a link to James Gurney's blog--worth exploring in its own right. The link goes directly to his post on masters of gouache:
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2015/06/some-of-my-favorite-gouache-masters.html