Subtitled “New directions for traditional painting techniques”, there’s an immediate attractiveness to this that invites further study. The blurb adds, “This book is all about painting boldly, embracing the medium’s unpredictable nature, and achieving a loose, painterly quality” and I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Beyond that, it’s quite hard to pin down what the book is actually about. I suppose the best thing I can say is that, if you’re feeling stuck in a rut and in need of new ideas or a kick-start, this will provide it. The subjects are mostly landscapes, waterscapes and flowers and what Julie Pollard is particularly strong on is the use of colour and of negative shapes. She also has a style that tends towards abstraction, but at the same time keeping a foot firmly in the representational camp.
I find the whole thing completely refreshing, which is what it says it wants to be. Spot on.
Click the picture to view on Amazon
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