Capturing Radiant Light & Color

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(in Oils and Soft Pastels)
by Susan Sarback

This is an updated version of Susan's earlier book. I would put her firmly in the same impressionist camp as Lois Griffel. So, if you liked the Cape Cod school approach, you will enjoy the examples and explanations in this book. As it is a second edition, it definitely has well thought out text (and really good production values you expect in a North Light book.)

There is a nice mix of oil and pastel demonstrations. It is another book that makes me think about working in pastels, but I am not quite up to the dust breathing, yet. There is a lot of inspiration in this book.

Brushwork Essentials

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By Mark Chirstopher Weber

I have not seen any other book present the actual mechanics of painting in the detail that this one provides. Weber gives clear detail and great photos of how to paint. The techniques are directed at working in oil and water-soluble oil. The artwork featured is a beautiful set of realist paintings. I really enjoyed the time I have spent with this book. Compared to time with a real life instructor, this book is a steal. Time to get some brushes dirty!

Oil Painting Secrets from a Master

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By Linda Cateura (David Leffel)

This book is a classic you will probably have heard or read some praise for it. The "Master" is not Cateura, it is David Leffel. There are many beautiful still life, protrait, and figurative paintings shown and discussed. Leffel gives very strong, opinionated advice (maybe not "secrets", but worth reading.) The current edition is a 144 page paperback Watson-Guptill publication. The book has stood up fairly well since it was written in 1984; the advice did not become dated. My only concern is "what are those white splotches on his paintings?" I don't know if it is his style or just the plates that were produced at the time...

Painting the Impressionist Landscape

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By Lois Griffel

This is the REAL "How to Paint like an Impressionist". If you look around the net you will find a lot of praise for this book. Any praise you see is well deserved. If you love the broken color and light effects of the Impressionists, you will love this book. I think the most inspiring part of the book is Lois' painting style. Her work is featured, of course, and I really like it.

The book teaches the techniques of Henry Hensche at The Cape Cod School of Art. It stresses the fundamentals of painting block studies to learn how to see color. There are also a good number of other demonstrations on full landscapes. The book also has some history and some basics sprinkled in the text. It is all presented with the clear stong opinions consistent with producing this style. Highly recommended even if this is not your main style. It may make you get your painting knife out!

Landscape Meditations

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By Elizabeth Mowry

Kevin MacPherson's series paintings reminded me of Landscape Meditations. Mowry's main theme in this book is the concept of landscape series paintings. This whole concept was certainly originated by my favorite painter, Claude Monet and he gets his share of credit from Mowry, too. She presents a history of theme painting and a well thought out trip through various themes that can be the subject of a series.

Subtitled "An Artist's Guide to Exploring Themes in Landscape Painting", the book itself is a beautiful collection of Mowry's and other's paintings. Her works are impressionistic pastels of light and landscape. Now, my medium is certainly not pastel, but I love this book and found its content inspiring. I hope to explore my own landscape meditations in the future.

Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light and Color

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By Kevin MacPherson

Kevin produced a popular book that stressed plein air work with pochade boxes in 1997. That was about when the plein air revival started and it is still going strong. Kevin has some great advice as well as good instruction. He covers working with a limited palette in several examples of color mixing. There is also good instruction on the process of creating a painting. He includes a strong recommendation to create 100 picture “starts” as important method to growth. Still life gets its own section as well as useful advice on working in plein air.

MacPherson is an inspiring artist with interesting projects. His paintings are beautiful and rendered with only 4 colors. His book “Reflections on a Pond” is from a project and exhibition from painting a New Mexico alpine pond over several years and includes paintings done on every day of the year. I love this idea as I am a real sucker for reflections and I am a huge fan of series paintings "a la Monet".

Soon to be published is “Landscape Painting – Inside & Out” which I am eagerly awaiting. It must cover more on studio and plein air; I bet.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

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By Betty Edwards

First of all, you have to love the title if you have any love for double meanings. A recent Studio 360 on NPR called into question the validity of the whole stress of the right side vs. left. Artists certainly draw on both sides of their brains. I also personally believe the “right side” mode that Edwards describes is probably more likely the same state of mind as “Flow” proposed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

That said, the book is a classic in art instruction now. It has been revised since the original in 1979 with more examples of students’ before and after efforts. It is encouraging to see how much people improve through the course. Using negative space, training for line drawing, and learning common errors in drawing various subjects are highlights. There is also a nice companion practice guide that I have used.

Well, the science on the brain is interesting, but the exciting thing about this book is its well thought out teaching of drawing. As the NPR report says, there is no doubt that “A week of concentrated practice under the watchful eye of a seasoned instructor can really improve your drawing skills”.

The Simple Secret to Better Painting

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The subtitle for the book is “How to immediately improve your art with this one rule of composition. What is the secret? What is that one rule? Albert gets right to the point and thankfully reveals the secret in the introduction. Never make any two intervals the same. This is an excellent North Light Book. It builds the case for the one rule and explains its application quite well.

Since Albert is the Editorial Director of North Light Art Instruction books, he uses painting examples from his stable of artist/authors. This is clever cross marketing, but can be forgiven because the examples paintings are good looking and demonstrate the ideas quite well. The discussion of applying this “one rule” is thoroughly illustrated including some corollary guidelines thrown in like using mostly, some and a bit for color and value.