American Artist Guide To Painting Techniques

Grab your paintbrush and discover all the fundamentals of successful painting. A comprehensive overview, The American Artist Guide to Painting Techniques shows you all the techniques you need to know to paint in watercolor, oil, acrylic and pastel. From clear instruction to new painting ideas, this a four-in-one foundation book for every artist interested in improving fundamental painting skills. First, you'll learn 45 painting techniques step-by-step through photographs and valuable tips. Each technique includes specific details for use in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and pastels. Next, you'll discover how to apply the techniques to subjects of particular difficulty, including landscapes, animals, portraits, still lifes, and more. Beginning painters will love the specifics on the unique properties of each painting skill, while intermediate painters will rely on the tips and reference materials to produce outstanding results. An easy-to-navigate resource manual, The American Artist Guide to Painting Techniques provides clear instruction, new painting ideas, and inspiration in encyclopedic detail for any artist picking up a brush.

When you become a better designer and colorist, you become a better painter. Painting doesn't have to be complicated to be good. In fact, it shouldn't be. Artist and best-selling author Linda Kemp (Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines) bypasses all the complexities of design and color to focus on a fresh, simplified strategy for success that features negative painting--a method that uses the space around your subject to help define it. Improve your painting step by step with projects and exercises that will help your work stand out from the crowd. With Simplifying Design & Color for Artists, you'll learn: • Strategies for creating simple yet effective compositions, focusing on the relationship between shape, space, and color. • Useful tips on color--how to simplify it, mix your own, and work with value, hue and intensity. • Techniques for designing with shape: size and edge, layering, and building dimension and movement. • 18 step-by-step projects in watercolor and acrylic. The approach may be simple, but your art will be spectacular!

Harness the power of negative space! Breathe new life into your art through negative painting. Linda Kemp shares her techniques for using the strength of negative space - the areas not occupied by subject matter - to create alluring works of art. Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines is a comprehensive guide to evoking more passion in your paintings. You'll learn how to take hold of the often-overlooked areas of a painting through interactive, easy to follow elements including: • Step-by-step techniques, exercises and projects • Do-it-yourself tests and worksheets • Troubleshooting suggestions and secrets • Straightforward diagrams for color and design Both beginning and advanced artists will benefit from negative painting concepts presented in this guide. Using landscapes, florals, and motifs from nature, you'll gain the skills and knowledge to make your next watercolor your most striking work yet.

Lessons of a lifetime. 24 modern-day masters share secrets to their success. Since 2009, thousands of artists have flocked to Lori McNee's FineArtTips.com for creative and professional advice. A social media guru as well as a professional artist, McNee has assembled a diverse and impressive group of today's most popular artists to create Fine Art Tips (the book!), an unprecedented master class in representational painting and art business advice. Fine Art Tips goes "behind the paintings" to show how 24 of today's top artists transform dabs of paint into incredible still lifes, landscapes, portraits and wildlife art. Along the way, they generously share practical, real-world tips on everything from evoking the illusion of sparkling water to professional networking. Plein air afficianado Ken Auster offers an unforgettable lesson on focal point. John Seerey Lester, a rock star in the world of wildlife painting, talks about the power of storytelling in paint. Joe Anna Arnett reveals her secret to painting white peonies, and Daniel Sprick discusses the foundations behind his classical portraits. The advice in these pages can be life-changing for artists, both aspiring and established. For art-lovers in general, Fine Art Tips is a brilliant showcase of today's top artists. Inspired by Lori McNee's art blog sensation, FineArtTips.com! • Illuminating tips, techniques and professional advice from 24 of today's most highly acclaimed artists • 26 step-by-step demonstrations in oil, acrylic and pastel • A thrilling range of signature styles and subjects

"How paintings were made--in the most literal sense--is an important but largely unknown aspect of the story of American art. This book, like the authors' previous volume on American painting techniques from the colonial period to 1860, is based on descriptions of the materials and methods that painters used, as found in artists' notebooks, painting manuals, magazines, suppliers' catalogues, letters, diaries, books, and interviews. In interpreting this evidence, the authors have made use of their experience as conservators who have treated many important American paintings."--Book jacket.

Bridging the fields of conservation, art history, and museum curating, this volume contains the principal papers from an international symposium titled "Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice" at the University of Leiden in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from June 26 to 29, 1995. The symposium—designed for art historians, conservators, conservation scientists, and museum curators worldwide—was organized by the Department of Art History at the University of Leiden and the Art History Department of the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam. Twenty-five contributors representing museums and conservation institutions throughout the world provide recent research on historical painting techniques, including wall painting and polychrome sculpture. Topics cover the latest art historical research and scientific analyses of original techniques and materials, as well as historical sources, such as medieval treatises and descriptions of painting techniques in historical literature. Chapters include the painting methods of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Dutch 17th-century landscape painting, wall paintings in English churches, Chinese paintings on paper and canvas, and Tibetan thangkas. Color plates and black-and-white photographs illustrate works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Stimulating, informative guide by noted teacher covers painting technique, painting from life, materials — paints, varnishes, oils and mediums, grounds, etc. — a painter's training, more. 64 photos. 5 line drawings.

Dust jacket notes: "Vibrant, fresh, immediate! The direct oil painting technique is an intense reaction to nature, a race with time to capture the color, the light and shadow, the design and the spirit of a subject in a few short hours. And now, Emile Gruppe - master of the direct oil painting technique - shows how you can use the broad strokes and lively colors of this spontaneous approach to infuse your own paintings with vitality, vigor, and on-the-spot freshness. A firm believer in using the best materials for the best results, Gruppe begins with a quick review of his favorite brushes, colors, easels, and painting surfaces. Next, he covers the basics of good design, what to look for and how to orchestrate what you see: masses, lines, values, and relationships. Turning to color, a fundamental element of his painting technique, Gruppe discusses complements, color harmony, color vibration, local color, reflected color, and using color to create atmospheric perspective. He explains how color appears on various kinds of days - foggy, clear, cloudy - and under different lighting conditions - front lighting, backlighting, sidelighting. In subsequent chapters, the author focuses on composing seascapes and landscapes; he explains how to paint rocks, ocean, lighthouses, boats, piers, pilings, roads, trees, streams, snow, mountains, valleys. Then, in full-color step-by-step demonstrations, the author shows how he captures a subject in his unique, exuberant, on-the-spot style.