Archive for category Medium: Oil
Classic Portrait Painting in Oils || Chris Saper
Posted by henry in Author: Chris Saper, Medium: Oil, Publisher: David & Charles, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Portraiture on January 25, 2012
Although figure painting has been much better served of late, there have historically been few books that look at formal portraiture as opposed to the more popular style of a relaxed likeness. This is perhaps understandable as the classic style is seen as a specialised field requiring particular skills and maybe even equipment.
However, if you want to have a go, this book will help you considerably along the way. The introduction to materials and methods is comprehensive without being overwhelming and includes lighting, positioning the subject within the frame and how to evaluate skin colours. Chris also has useful advice on working from photographs, including what to aim for when you take them. In fact, the book has a neat trick up its sleeve in this respect, as each of the demonstration portraits is done twice, once from life and once from a photograph, and it’s interesting to see how this influences the result.
This is an American book and you should expect American facial types. I don’t mean that it’s outlandish, but there are some quite subtle differences that we don’t see this side of the Atlantic. This shouldn’t put you off, however, as the principles remain the same and, if you’ve followed what Chris is talking about, you’ll be painting your subject, not his.
Oil Painting Step by Step || Noel Gregory, James Horton, Roy Lang & Michael Sanders
Posted by henry in Author: James Horton, Author: Michael Sanders, Author: Noel Gregory, Author: Roy Lang, Medium: Oil, Publisher: Search Press, Subject: Flowers, Subject: Landscape, Subject: Techniques, Subject: Water, Subject: Waterscape, Subject: Watersoluble Media on September 29, 2011
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 £12.99, 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.
Painting Light in Oils || Peter Wileman
Posted by henry in Author: Peter Wileman, Medium: Oil, Publisher: Batsford, Subject: Techniques on June 13, 2011
Books on oil painting are always thin on the ground, so a new one is to be welcomed; all the more so when you get one that combines the analytical approach that characterises a lot of Batsford books with a handy selection of step-by-step demonstrations into the bargain. In both approaches, Peter Wileman offers a lot of painting wisdom and the fact that he paints in a surprisingly wide variety of styles will widen the appeal of what he has to say.
Overall, the book has a logical progression from the customary introduction to materials and techniques (one day, could someone just say, “I use paint and brushes, just like everyone else” and leave it at that?), through subject selection and the different effects of light, to the practical aspects of outdoor painting as well as studio practice. Light, of course, is the centrepiece of the book and Peter is particularly sound on how light varies according to weather, time of day and season, what to look for and the various ways of capturing its effects. Much of this is the sort of thing that seems obvious until someone explains it and there are a lot of “oh, yes” moments here.
If I have a complaint it’s that several of the illustrations appear to have been reproduced from 35mm transparencies or less than totally high resolution digital images. This is always a problem when the author has sold their work and is relying on their own records and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, but there are several places when I found myself yearning for just a bit more detail in some of the paintings.
Painting Wildlife step by step || Rod Lawrence
Posted by henry in Author: Rod Lawrence, Medium: Acrylic, Medium: Oil, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: David & Charles, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Animals, Subject: Birds, Subject: Wildlife on March 22, 2011
I think it’s fair to say that you need a fair degree of skill under your belt before you tackle this book. However, that’s not unreasonable, because birds and animals are a difficult subject and anything that proclaims itself a beginner’s guide is inevitably going to trivialise and simply annoy the more serious practitioner.
That said, for those who aren’t daunted by the author’s highly detailed approach, it does start somewhere near the beginning, with main chapter heads devoted to fur, feathers, eyes and ears, feet and tails, etc. In other words, short demonstrations covering basic structure rather than full-blown and perhaps rather off-putting projects covering a whole creature.
Doing things this way allows you to build up your skills and techniques progressively and also to pick out whatever it is you need at any particular time. If there’s a criticism, it’s that there aren’t any complete projects, so you never get that “pulling it all together” section that most books like to include. Although, as the book is already 144 pages long, extending it in this way could double the length or significantly reduce the admirable attention to detail that characterises the author’s approach. Forewarned, you shouldn’t feel short-changed when you come to the end.
The overall approach is painstaking and Rod does well to break a complex and difficult subject down into manageable chunks that don’t become overwhelming.
How to Paint Living Portraits || Roberta Carter Clark
Posted by henry in Author: Roberta Carter Clark, Medium: Oil, Medium: Watercolour, Publisher: David & Charles, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Portraiture on March 22, 2011
There’s a relatively small, but very steady demand for books on painting portraits and this 1990 guide, reissued in the North Light Classics series, is definitely worth a look.
The first thing to say is that it’s an American publication, so the work included is pretty saccharine and won’t always be to European tastes. Nevertheless, the author is a master of her subject and there’s no arguing with the quality of the results or the depth of the explanations.
The book is well structured and progresses from exercises that work on the proportions of the head to handling the eyes, nose, mouth etc. This is necessarily quite slow work, but fundamental, and the attention to detail here pays dividends later. Further chapters deal with the body, clothing and lighting in a similarly thorough way before we move on to colours and two quite separate sections on working in oil and in watercolour.
This is a book that doesn’t compromise on the quality of its instruction for a more attractive outlook and is all the better for that. If you don’t have access to a real live teacher, this is very much the next best thing.
Oil Painting For The Absolute Beginner || Mark & Mary Willenbrink
Posted by henry in Author: Mark & Mary Willenbrink, Medium: Oil, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Techniques on October 27, 2010
The companion to the authors’ previous volume on watercolour, this lives admirably up to its title.
The book follows a logical progression that begins with an introduction to materials, goes on to basic techniques and follows with a chapter on “basic art principles” that explains such things as perspective, colour and composition in a way that doesn’t assume you somehow have prior knowledge. All this would be superficial for someone who has previous painting experience, so it’s fair to say that the book is aimed at the complete beginner rather than someone who’s just new to the medium.
The final section, “Let’s paint!”, features 16 step-by-step demonstrations that cover subjects as diverse as landscapes, still lifes, skies, animals and people. There is also a 98 minute DVD (in NTSC format) which provides a workshop in which the authors complete two paintings from start to finish.
Brian Ryder – Painting Atmospheric Landscapes: Norfolk & beyond || Adrian Hill
Posted by henry in Author: Adrian Hill, Author: Brian Ryder, Medium: Oil, Medium: Pen & ink, Publisher: Halsgrove, Publisher: Halstar, Subject: Landscape on October 26, 2010
Brian Ryder will be familiar to amateur painters mostly through his instructional books and, especially his first, Beyond Realism, which paved the way for what has become almost a flood on non-representational painting.
Those who are familiar with Brian’s work through this route will get something of a surprise here because he turns out to be quite an impressionist landscape painter in both oils and pen & wash. If I say that Brian’s style is conventional, I’m really referring to his paint application methods. Compositionally, there’s no doubt that he’s a fan of big skies (no bad thing in Norfolk!) and he combines these with loosely painted and often compressed foregrounds that serve mainly as context.
As a record of a county, this is a beautiful collection of work but it also, with the “and beyond” that takes us to other counties and countries, showcases the artist as well. For the practising artist, it’s pure inspiration, but be prepared for a strong sense of, “if only” because this is definitely an aspirational style!
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Alan Cotton – Giving Life a Shape || Jenny Pery
Posted by henry in Author: Alan Cotton, Author: Jenny Pery, Medium: Oil, Publisher: Halsgrove, Publisher: Halstar, Subject: Landscape on October 25, 2010
This is something more than just, “A few of the artist’s paintings and a bit about them”. Jenny Pery is an experienced writer and she has woven a neat and intriguing account of Alan Cotton’s life as he prepares for his latest exhibition. In many ways, it could be said to be a documentary in book form and the approach works supremely well.
If you haven’t come across Alan Cotton before, although comparisons are nasty things, I’d say that, if you like the work of John Piper and Kyffin Williams you’ll feel at home here. At 176 pages, this is a substantial tome and the extended text doesn’t detract from the number of illustrations, which feature landscapes from Snowdonia to Cyprus and Devon to Provence.
As a feature on an artist’s work in progress, this is hard to beat and the illustrations are, without exception, well handled. As a documentary, it’s an innovative approach that brings both the man and his work to life in a way that couldn’t be achieved by concentrating on only a single aspect.
Vibrant Children’s Portraits || Victoria Lisi
Posted by henry in Author: Victoria Lisi, Medium: Oil, Publisher: North Light, Subject: Children, Subject: Portraiture on February 2, 2010
There’s a slightly saccharine quality to the results produced here, but it’s not something you couldn’t tone down in your own work. Books on portraiture are thin on the ground and on painting children even more so, so this is a particularly welcome gap-filler. There’s a good variety of hair, skin and facial types, as well as sound but simple notes on how to deal with the main facial features and step by step demonstrations that are thorough without being over-worked.
All in all, this is an excellent place to start and would probably also carry some welcome hints for the more practised artist.
