Exploring Color Workshop 30th Anniversary Edition

Unlock the secrets to gorgeous, expressive, unforgettable color! Finding color combinations that not only work but excite the eye is one of the greatest challenges artists face. This updated and expanded 30th anniversary edition of the North Light classic Exploring Color teaches artists of all mediums and skill levels how to use and control color in their artwork and shows how exhilarating and enjoyable the ride can be. Popular art instructor and best-selling author Nita Leland will help you take any artwork you make to new color heights. Memorable paintings from more than 30 contributing artists are inside towill inspire you, along with 75+ hands-on exercises, 8 step-by-step demonstrations and countless nuggets of color knowledge--all in your own private workshop! Learn how to master color mixing, assemble the perfect palette for your artistic goals, select just the right color scheme, and communicate color in a way that elevates your designs way beyond the ordinary. Start a handy journal to keep track of your discoveries, with customized mixtures, color wheels, reference charts and other tools designed to uncover your color personality and help you work with color more efficiently. Nita knows that the quest for perfect color can be fun, and it can be yours. So stop guessing, and start exploring! "Beautiful color is no happy accident. Color can be learned." --Nita Leland

How to use and control color in your painting

Reviews the history of color theory and systems, addresses the use of elements and principles of color design, looks at seven types of contrast and how to achieve color harmony, explains the split-primary color mixing system and the use of full-spectrum palettes, and includes demonstrations.

A comprehensive instruction for the artist on fully developing the gift of getting everything possible from the colors of the palette.

Paint outside the lines! Jumpstart your creativity and inject new life into your art. Struggling to get started? Paralyzed by the fear of failure? Find yourself falling back on the same colors again and again? Just plain stuck? It happens to every artist sooner or later. What can you do to get unstuck quickly and painlessly? Creative Freedom presents 52 strategies for getting out of ruts and venturing beyond your comfort zone, courtesy of 25 artists who have been there, done that. Each approach is illustrated with a step-by-step painting demonstration. Together, they help you experiment with different mediums, new color combinations, fresh approaches to favorite subjects, and more. Try one a week for a year of creative adventure. Or dip in whenever you're feeling inspired. You may be surprised at the creative liberation that comes from... • Painting with your other hand. • Going big with your canvas and brushes. • Painting fast with 10-minute studies. • Limiting your palette. • Starting with a random line drawing or custom painting surface. • Zooming in on one small detail of a landscape for abstract results. • Copying the work of an Old Master. Featuring an exciting variety of styles and mediums (oil, watercolor, acrylic and pastel), novel perspectives and an invigorating sense of play, this book is sure to generate creative sparks and joyful painting sessions. Getting unstuck has never been so fun!

Traditional color theory can be confusing to artists, especially when they try to use inaccurate color wheels as guides to mixing their colors. Now, Color Theory Made Easy presents an alternative approach that cuts through the tangle of established but contradictory concepts that gives artists a universal theory that really applies to their work. Most artists have been taught that red, blue, and yellow are the primary colors hues that cannot be created from any combination of other colors. However, as a result of years of study, author and artist Jim Ames has concluded that the true primary colors are cyan (a greenish blue), magenta (a violet red), and a yellow that does not learn toward either cyan or magenta. In Color Theory Made Easy, Ames explains the importance of these three colors as the basis for all our thinking about color. Using friendly, clear language and colorful diagrams, the author lays the foundation in Chapter 1 for applying his color theory in art. He shows that all colors in nature are composed of varying percentages of cyan, magenta, and yellow. Chapter 2 builds on this with a survey of the pigment colors artists actually use. Here the author offers an essential education concerning paint selection, and he lists currently available tube colors that are the most accurate in terms of the true primaries. The final chapter explores color mixing principles based on cyan, magenta, and yellow, and applies these principles through a series of watercolor demonstrations. In this illuminating book, Jim Ames has broken new ground and given us a workable color theory that is both simple and indispensable."

A personal field guide to how the popular Santa Fe artist finds her inspiration and creates her charming paintings and collages of birds and nature. Brimming with inspiring examples of the artist’s work, this beautiful book takes you inside Geninne’s studio for an in-depth look at how she creates. You will discover, step by step, how this devoted artist spends time photographing nature, selecting her materials, and developing her personal imagery. Explore: How her studio is set up, how she works, and what materials and tools she uses How she captures nature with both a camera and phone for reference Her artistic process through the step-by-step creation of 5 watercolor paintings, 5 collages, and 5 ink drawings, with notes on each medium and technique As a special bonus, the book includes 32 pages of collage papers, painted and selected by Geninne, for you to use as you explore and develop your own artistic voice. Vibrant, detailed, and richly imaginative, Geninne’s interpretation of the birds she has observed so closely will inspire you to use the natural world as fodder for your paintings, drawings, and collages. “Lovely . . . If you’re a playful artist avid about collage or ink drawing, you might be smitten.” —Arts & Activities

Inspiring ideas from one of the world’s great art teachers • Top author—more than 100,000 books sold worldwide • Solid instruction from a watermedia expert • Tips and techniques for developing a personal style and vision Join renowned artist Stephen Quiller, the creator of the famous Quiller Wheel, the Quiller Palette, and the Quiller lines of paints, on a journey of art discovery and exploration. Watermedia Painting with Stephen Quiller is an in-depth look at all the watermedia paints available to today’s artists. Part One looks at watercolors, with illustrations of the visual characteristics of the mineral (sedimentary) and transparent (staining) and their effects with different paper surfaces. Part Two focuses on acrylics, gouache, and casein. In Part Three, Quiller shares his secrets for the most difficult aspect of painting—developing a personal style and vision. Packed with Quiller’s thoughts and ideas on painting philosophy, the meditative and spiritual aspects of art, photographing art, travel, and building a studio, this is an inspiring guide to living a creative life and creating art.