 | | |
| The Oil Painting Course You've Always Wanted: Guided Lessons for Beginners and Experienced Artists | 
 enlarge | Author: Kathleen Staiger
Publisher: Watson-Guptill
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.65
You Save: $12.30 (49%)
Buy New/Used from $12.26
Avg. Customer Rating:  (14 reviews)
Sales Rank: 110394
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 10.4 x 8.5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0823032590
Dewey Decimal Number: 751.45
EAN: 9780823032594
ASIN: 0823032590
Publication Date: July 1, 2006
Release Date: July 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 great starter but you'll need more books April 8, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was a great starter book and was exceptionally helpful in learning where to start and how to mix colors. It also provides a few step by step classes to get you started. It is a true beginners book, but you'll be looking for new inspiration after you've spent some time with it.
 Amazingly good! March 22, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I would encourage anyone interested in purchasing art books to go to your local library and check some out before you purchase. That is what I did and that is why I bought this wonderful book. Her presentations are very clear and easy to understand. She has carefully constructed lessons, just as if you were taking a class. I like the structure. I like the fact that there is a whole lesson spent learning to use the brush to achieve different techniques. Each lesson takes me about 2-3 hours to complete, but when I am done I feel I have actually made some progress. The lessons build on previous lessons so you actually can see progress from week-to-week. Finally I am sticking to a schedule and actually painting instead of just thinking about it. The practice is what brings the improvement. Her book just makes it easier.
great book January 6, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I'm a begining painter and I felt this book helped me get off to a good start. It helped me learn the mixing of colors (which I refer to often when using the greens) I liked the practice exercises which helped me to visualize the highlights and shading. The first landscape I did was the step-by-step in the book and it turned out ok for my first. I would recommend this book!!
 not going to create a masterpiece with this January 5, 2007
27 out of 35 found this review helpful
I gave this away to charity soon after buying it. The main problem with this book is that all of the paintings that were used as the basis of the guided excercises were just so dreadful that I had zero interest in putting the time into doing them. I'm sure the author has some talent as a teacher and even as an artist, but they looked quite amatuer to me, and if you're going to imitate a dreadful painting to learn techniques, I could only imagine you'd end up a dreadful painter....
However - it's all a matter of taste in the end. Not for me.
Substantive December 13, 2006
47 out of 47 found this review helpful
Staiger has compiled a wealth of information of use to the beginner in oil painting. Pretty much all the basic considerations of what constitutes a successful painting are covered.
She opens with a good overview of the materials required: paints, brushes, supports, easels and a useful piece on mediums and cleaners. Staiger appears to acknowledge that of her audience some are merely curious as to what oil painting entails through to the serious beginner looking for a good foundation of knowledge. Hence economy is apparent with a minimal range of brushes being recommended along with using good student grade paints (Winsor & Newton - Grumbacher), along with old tuna-fish cans for holding the medium. This is followed by:
i) A fairly comprehensive and easy to understand section on rendering 3D form on a 2D canvas.
ii) 20 pages on colour and colour mixing (a further 4 pages on mixing greens appears later in the landscape section).
iii) The previous chapters are brought to a conclusion with an exercise in painting a cylinder and a sphere.
iv) Painting the Still Life is next (30 pages of info), covering issues such as composition, sketching, painting.
v) Landscapes (40 pages): linear and aerial perspective, a landscape palette, components of a landscape - sky, water, trees, grass, sand, dirt, and concludes with a landscape painting exercise.
vi) Painting Portraits - drawing the head and correct placement of features, mixing skin tones, finishing with a portrait painting exercise.
Overall there is a lot of information here that should benefit the beginner. The book is also aimed at Experienced painters although I'm not sure that there is anything major that an Experienced oil painter shouldn't already know.
The exercises are somewhat rudimentary in terms of the painting style (hence the 4 stars). I'd much prefer the exercises push the painter somewhat, possibly even have two exercises per subject matter - one to get across the rudiments followed by a second adding to it showing you various tricks, flourishes etc., that can give your painting that little "extra", elevating your work from the standard twee style that poliferates.
Watson-Guptill have produced another book worthy of place in the beginner artist's library. You might want to consider buying Brian Gorst's "The Complete Oil Painter" (also by WG) that compliments Staiger's book well.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| | |