Oil Painting Step-by-step

Description

This is a practical and comprehensive guide for all oil painting enthusiasts, from the beginner to the experienced artist. Starting with advice on materials, painting from photographs, colour and composition, it goes on to describe basic and more advanced techniques such as wet on wet, wet on dry, scumbling, dry brush, sgraffito, impasto and glazing and the wonderful effects they can produce. For those wanting to avoid the use of smelly additives like turpentine or white spirit, there is a section on water mixable oils. For readers who would like to see quick results, there is a section on instant oil painting, or painting in an intuitive, spontaneous way. Easy to follow step-by-step demonstrations show the reader how to paint landscapes, sea and sky, still life and flowers, and each section is accompanied by a selection of inspirational paintings by the four featured artists, in a rich variety of styles.

Noel Gregory studied at High Wycombe College of Art and Bournemouth Teacher Training College. He owned an art gallery near Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire for twenty five years, dealing with Victorian pictures and later his own work. He now makes a living as an artist, specialising in oil painting, and sells his work internationally. Noel lives in Spain. James Horton is an experienced artist with a particular knowledge of the field of anatomy. He has written numerous practical art books, including 'Learn to Draw the Figure', 'Pastel Techniques' and 'Skin Tones'. He teaches art in colleges around the UK, and has exhibited his work widely, including mixed exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy and Royal Portrait Society. He lives in Cambridge. Roy Lang writes 'I do not consider my self to be an artist; rather someone who has learnt to portray its moods, colours and movements with paint on canvas.' Despite opting out of art at school at the age of thirteen, Roy started painting again in his late thirties while out of work. His understanding of the sea, mainly gleaned from angling in his youth, made up for his lack of any formal training in art. He now travels, giving demonstrations and workshops; and lives in the south-west of England. Michael Sanders studied graphic art at Plymouth College of Art and Ceramics at Bristol University. He went on to become a graphic artist and signwriter, then a potter, tutor and professional artist. He still teaches and he now runs painting holidays in the UK and Europe. He regularly writes articles for art magazines, loves boats and travelling, and he enjoys music, the theatre and teaching art.

I'm pretty sure that this is a bind-up of eight short guides that have been previously published - I certainly recognise Roy Lang's Sea & Sky in Oils, but publishers are getting a lot better at the stitching-together trick these days and it's really quite hard to see the joins here. At a mere GBP12.99, though, it's hardly worth quibbling in the face of the huge variety of material you get. Because everything runs together so neatly, it's best to look as this as a compendium of single-subject demonstrations, albeit a themed one. Turning the pages more or less at random reveals all sorts of useful information on subjects such as on skies, light, reflections, choosing a subject, underpainting and glazing, as well as a good selection of demonstration paintings on subjects including flowers, landscapes and water. The individual volumes were definitely something to work through, but I rather favour serendipity here. Just let the book fall open and read from there; it's full of wisdom and good advice. * artbookreview.net *