This is not so much a how-to-do-it book as a how-it-was-done.
Valerie begins by describing the atelier method, where students learn by watching a master at work, gradually progressing towards their own origination and, perhaps, repeating the process. The illustrations here are classic pieces – the recurrent signature of P J Redouté gives you the idea – which Valerie breaks down into its components.
Each subject begins with an example painting, which gets a whole page to itself, and is followed by a breakdown of the outline and the colours and a description of the palette. The text is short and you’ll have to do most of the analysis yourself, which may be your preferred method of working. Such an approach is not for the beginner, but should appeal to the more experience artist who wants to do their own thinking without being led by the hand at every stage.
It’s an interesting approach that Valerie has handled with some aplomb, although it would not be unfair to say that it won’t suit everyone.
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