Landscape Books

Landscape Painting Inside and Out: Capture the Vitality of Outdoor Painting in Your Studio With Oils

Kevin D. MacPherson

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Instructional & How-To -> Landscape Painting

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best book on painting outside that I've ever read...period. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I read Kevin's earlier book and mentioned it previously here on Amazon and yes, I thought it was great but THIS one...this one is...is...damn...words fail me. It's just simply the best book on plein-air painting I've ever read (and I must have 30 or more on this subject alone). Kevin has outdone himself with this one. He's taken all the valuable info contained in his previous book and just added to it and added to it. I'm looking and looking but I can't find ANYTHING that he may have left out or not talked enough about.

Years ago, before he established himself as The Man when it comes to teaching people how to paint outdoors, I took a couple of workshops with him and, during the first couple of days outdoors and trying to be somewhat easy in his suggestions to improve my picky little paintings, he finally got frustrated with what I'd continued to put on the canvas and, took his thumb and WHOOSH--smeared out a laborious passage I'd painstakingly put in there and wiped off his thumb and WHOOSH, did it a second time and I'll never forget how much BETTER the painting looked after those two swoops. My biggest mistake was in not stopping right there, putting it away and saving that thing for me to look at again and again. That same mentality permeates his book; you can't help but improve your paintings if you read this book and apply the principles therein.

Another note is the two back-pages by his wife, Wanda, who was only just beginning to paint when I knew them. She can really paint now but she
maintains that being really good (which she is) is not the point, but that just getting out there and not being afraid to fail and just enjoy yourself should be a reward in itself. I found her remarks to be in good juxtaposition to Kevin's solid, on-target prose about well, "Landscape Painting Inside and Out".

Buy it. Better yet, go to his website and see if you can get into a workshop with him. You won't be disappointed.

Editorial Review:

The overwhelming beauty of the outdoors is one of the most inspiring, and elusive, subjects for painters. With "Painting the Outdoors Inside", Kevin D. Macpherson first shows readers how to see like an artist, then teaches them how to recreate their vision into stunning outdoor scenes. His insightful process and inspiring commentary about the painting life encourages and empowers artists to take their art to the next level.

The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook - Landscapes

Gordon Mackenzie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook - Landscapes 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This has some great step-by-step lessons for creating different effects in a landscape watercolor. The only criticism I have of it is the drab coloring in many of the examples.

2008 Review 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

-I last painted with watercolors when they were in paintbox form -40 years ago in high school art.This book has been a valuable tool in getting me up to speed on present day brushes,paints and techniques.I
am very pleased with the results I have been able to achieve in
just a few months time.This book is a definite buy for newbies or as a
refresher.

Editorial Review:

This inspiring guide provides artists with the knowledge they need to paint watercolor landscapes. It features easy-to-follow exercises illustrated in an accessible format that invites readers to jump in and begin painting right away. Artists of all skill levels will learn from: 30 step-by-step demonstrations; chapters focusing on basic landscape elements, such as land, water and sky; and special mini demos for capturing important details, including trees, mountains, waves, clouds, sunsets and more. Most importantly, this guide's instruction teaches artists the foundations of strong composition and encourages them to pursue their own individual style to create landscapes that are compelling and unique.

Oil Painter's Solution Book Landscapes: XX Answers to Your Oil Painting Questions

Elizabeth Tolley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The must-have reference for every oil painter!

Spend less time reading and more time painting with award-winning artist and instructor Elizabeth Tolley as she answers over 100 of the most pressing questions artists have about painting landscapes in oil. The handy Q&A format covers everything from basic brush techniques to deciding what to paint first while on location. Learn how to:

• Choose the right materials for you
• Prepare indoor and outdoor workspaces
• Design spectacular compositions
• Select eye-catching color for visual impact
• Paint with new brushstrokes and techniques
• Evaluate your own work

Including 10 mini-demonstrations to help refine your technique and 7 complete step-by-step projects, the Oil Painter's Solution Book: Landscapes is one reference no painter can be without!

Popular Landscape Questions Include:

What type of palette should I use?
How do I divide space in my painting?
How does light change at different times of day?
Can I work back into a dry painting?
How can I see and correct mistakes?

Get the answers to all these questions and more!

Painting Better Landscapes

Margaret Kessler

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

ESPECIAL PARA ARTISTAS AVANZADOS - SPECIAL FOR ADVANCED ARTISTS 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Este libro es estupendo para mejorar tu pintura, tanto seas novato como avanzado, pero especialmente es útil si llevas tiempo pintando, creo que está orientado especialmente para superarte en lo que ya haces. Te hace ver la técnica a seguir, desde que empiezas a inspirarte en una fotografía y su interpretación, la combinación de colores empleados, la mejor composición, profundidad, la forma de trazar con el pincel, y muchas recomendaciones más para superarte en lo ya llevas haciendo un tiempo atrás, como es mi caso. Recomendable para todos.
AVISO PARA AMAZON.COM: Soy español y hecho de menos que tengais un apartado especial para saber las publicaciones en mi idioma. Todos los libros que he comprado los hubiera disfrutado más si estuvieran traducidos al español.

This book is marvellous to improve your painting, so much be raw as(like) advanced, but specially it is useful if you go time doing(painting), I believe that it is orientated specially to excel yourself in what already you do. It makes you see the technology(skill) to continuing, since you start inspiring by a photography and its interpretation, the combination of used colors, the best composition, depth, the way of planning with the paintbrush, and many recommendations more rides to excel yourself in already doing a time behind, since it is my case. Advisable for all.

I WARN FOR AMAZON.COM: I am Spanish and a fact of less than a special paragraph to know the publications in my language. All the books that I have bought had been enjoyed by me more if they were translated into the Spanish. THANKS.

Editorial Review:

This innovative book includes advice on solving problems, conveying mood, focusing attention, arranging subjects, and making corrections.

Roy Lang's Sea & Sky in Oils: Painting the Atmosphere & Majesty of the Sea

Roy Lang

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

With this book you're able to paint the sea! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Purchased the book thinking it would be a good overview. The reviews seemed promising. I've read it like three times now! It is so good and the techniques are really straightforward. I'm about to paint my very first seascape having learned from this book that it IS possible. I understand that there is also a Roy Lang DVD that goes along with this book and am looking to get a copy. If you want to learn how to paint the sea - you can't go wrong with this book.

Editorial Review:

Award-winning artist Roy Lang shows artists how to capture in oils the power and majesty of water and air in this guidebook. Instructing readers on how the sea and sky interact in nature and how to portray their many moods, this study includes detailed sections on the properties of light and atmosphere to provide an ideal starting point for beginners. From selecting the proper materials to understanding composition, this manual features dozens of expert hints and tips for any level of artist and contains two step-by-step demonstrations that explain how to paint the sea and sky.

Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632-1717) (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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Editorial Review:

Wang Hui, the most celebrated painter of late-17th-century China, played a key role both in reinvigorating past traditions of landscape painting and in establishing the stylistic foundations for the imperially sponsored art of the Qing court. An artist of protean talent and immense ambition, Wang developed an all-embracing synthesis of historical landscape styles that constituted one of the greatest artistic innovations of late imperial China. This comprehensive study of the painter’s career—the first published in English—features essays examining his life and achievement as well as his masterwork, the monumental scroll depicting the Kangxi emperor’s Southern Inspection Tour. Twenty-seven of Wang Hui’s paintings, drawn from the Metropolitan Museum and from museums in Beijing, Taipei, Shanghai, and Tokyo, are supplemented by a wealth of images ranging from ancient Chinese paintings to works by Wang’s contemporaries.

Drawing and Painting Fantasy Landscapes and Cityscapes

Rob Alexander

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Artists interested in graphic novels and comic book illustration will find all the guidance and inspiration they need to draw and paint landscapes that evoke myths and legends, lost empires, futuristic planets, dramatic dreamscapes, underwater worlds, and subterranean cities. Easy-to-follow instructions and step-by-step illustrations demonstrate techniques for rendering a wide range of fantasy features, whether working in ink, watercolor, or computer pixels. Details covered in this heavily illustrated volume include -- choice of materials, with advice on getting the most from software programs . . . basics of perspective, architectural geometry, color, mood, and seasonal variations . . . landscape features, including skies, clouds, mountains, caves, deserts, snow, and water reflections . . . imagined landscapes from ancient cultures, future worlds, alien planets, undersea worlds, and surreal dreamscapes . . . cityscapes, from medieval towns to the metropolis of the future . . . famous fantasy worlds, from Atlantis to Middle Earth. This good-looking and instructive volume features a gallery of fantasy and science fiction images among its more than 200 color illustrations.

Painting the Landscape in Pastel

Albert Handell, Anita West

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

... But keep your eyes open 3 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

(I'm not clear on the contribution by author Anita Louise West; the text is largely in the first person singular -- Handell's.) This is a decent, if short-winded, introduction to common, fundamental art concepts (color temperature, intensity, complementary colors) and a few pointers specific to the pastel medium. There is little that you cannot get elsewhere in more depth, and some puzzling statements ("A toned paper helps the artist enhance contrast in values" -- p. 20) that beg elaboration. Many of the points are theoretically demonstrated by Handell's own paintings, with a paragraph each of his discussion; but his comments often seem arbitrarily chosen, if not downright wrong for the painting in question. For example, p. 40, he states "these light green colors [of the spring outside the studio window] contrasted with and complemented ... all of the darker interior colors of the studio," but the highest-key portions of the painting are in the interior. On p. 39 a view of a pier shows a flag at half staff. Hendell states, "I purposely played down the detail of the flag," yet it is in plain sight and eye-catching. In fact, the most interesting thing about an otherwise trite scene is the flag (I would have titled the picture "Half Mast") because it adds particularity and involves the viewer ("what's going on?"). The painting is divided exactly in halves horizontally, classically a compositional no-no, so I would have liked to read the artist's discussion of this choice. In some other paintings the artist seems confused (or unconcerned) about the principal light source -- although since Wayne Thiebaud routinely gets away with this, maybe it's not a big issue. In summary, this book is a lightweight, and hopefully encouraging, introduction to a wonderful medium, but the discussion of individual paintings should be read with one's critical faculties in place. Plus, it never hurts to browse another artist's works, even if the lessons contain nearly as many "what not to do's" as "what to do's".

Editorial Review:

The lush landscapes that light up these pages, combined with lucid instruction, help artists of all levels achieve impressive results as soon as they begin working with the medium.

Bob Ross' New Joy of Painting

Annette Kowalski, Robert H. Ross

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Super 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

As I have said before with Bob's white cover book. Bob has a step by step approach. His books are wonderful. If you have never picked up a brush or know how to read. You can follow his book. The book gives you that little push to design & make your own master pieces. He was a great great guy.

Editorial Review:

Since 1983, Bob Ross has been television's favorite artist. His Joy of Painting show captures higher ratings than any other art program in history, year after year. Bob's quick painting style and easy, encouraging manner reach millions of viewers around the world each day.

His third book -- New Joy of Painting -- is now available in paperback, containing another sixty of his favorite landscape paintings. Each is presented in full color, along with written instructions and detailed black-and-white how-to photographs. Now you really can complete your very own beautiful masterpiece -- you can do it.

"Remember, there is no failure, only learning," says author Annette Kowalski. "As I've heard Bob Ross say a thousand times, I hope you never create a painting that you're totally satisfied with, for it's this dissatisfaction that will create the motivation necessary for you to start your next painting, armed with the knowledge you acquired from the previous one."

Treasures of Botanical Art: Icons from the Shirley Sherwood and Kew Collections

Shirley Sherwood

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Editorial Review:

Provides and overview of the origins, history and relevance of botanical illustration.