Painting Abstracts: Ideas, Projects and Techniques

EAN:9781844483365 Label:Search Press Author:Rolina van Vliet Binding:Paperback

I really love this book about abstracts Great book for learning abstracts. Lots of pictures to inspire you2009-02-10 Rating 5. But even better are the exercises using specific tools and/or paints and techniques, but without an actual picture to copy. For a beginner, I found them quite challenging. I discovered painting abstracts is not as easy as it looks. I'm still learning and trying from this book. "DARE TO PAINT ABSTRACTS, AND A WHOLE WORLD OPENS UP IN FRONT OF YOU Ready for something different?. " --- Rolina van Vliet In combination with Virginia Cobb's DVD "Acrylic Abstract Painting: The Evolving Image," the experiments in van Vliet's book have brought new energy to my painting style2009-01-24 Rating 5. Originally a representational painter, I have became more interested in color relationships and non-representational painting as I progressed in my work. You may be interested in exploring abstract painting but don't know quite how to begin. This hands-on book is a great start! I respectfully disagree with the previous reviewer who implies this is a "paint-by-numbers" book. Nothing could be further from the truth and the author makes that quite clear in the text. At every turn you are encouraged to develop your own pathways, shut the book, and not to be formulaic. No one could be more against "paint-by-numbers" books than myself, so I would not be praising such a thing. The book is based upon an immensely satisfying variety of exercises that demand action. (Theory is touched upon, but only just). Even if you do only a few exercises, you will learn a great deal. You may decide the abstract approach isn't for you at all. But if you do enjoy the experience and end up doing all the exercises,you will have a priceless foundation upon which to build your future abstract paintings. There are 65 exercises in addition to other written passages, including: the poured line, exploring printing techniques, sgraffito, abstracting from landscapes, text processing, looking for style variation, and color experiments using monochromatic and analogous palettes. Any one of these could form the basis for years of exploration. The exercises are springboards. Sometimes I would spend weeks with the developments of an initial study. With some, I had little interest and did not go very far beyond the original studies. The choice is yours. There are two things that might improve a future edition. (1)The mistranslations from the Dutch are not too egregious, but they need to be corrected. For now, if you are familiar with acrylic media, you can usually tell which gel or paste she means when she says "filler," for example. (2) A spiral binding would be best for a workbook. The first week the spine cracked with minimal reading. To learn more about acrylic materials and techniques, also see Nancy Reyner's "Acrylic Revolution," devoted to Golden brand products, as well as Mary Todd Beam's "Celebrating Your Creative Self" & her DVD "An Acrylic Journey. " More experimental techniques can be found in Dean Nimmer's "Art From Intuition" and Connie Siegel's "Spirit of Drawing. " A book I thoroughly enjoyed An excellent book. Everything is very clear, very well set out2009-01-18 Rating 5. I have already recommended it to a number of my painting friends. I am a fiber artist and bought this book to help me in my abstract work great resource. It doesn't disappoint2008-11-16 Rating 5. This book is an excellent resource on the topic. Excellent book Painting Abstracts: Ideas, Projects and Techniques. Good approach to trying paintings and good information shared with reader at appropriate points in book2008-10-31 Rating 5. Highly recommend it to beginning as well as advanced painters--particularly artists new to abstract concept. Full instructions for 65 abstract paintings are provided in this guide that urges beginners to plunge right in, learning about composition, theme, and design while they paint The history of abstract painting and its importance as a means of self-expression are covered in the guide's beginning pages, and each of the paintings that follow conventional step-by-step instruction is replaced with information on composition, imagery, method, materials, and technique, allowing the painter to copy straight from the book—or make changes according to the flow of creativity.