July 09
This excellent book begins with an explanation of how to use the handy interactive colour wheel included on the front of the book to help learn to mix the desired colours from primary colours. Colour mixing is an essential skill for artists to learn and this handy wheel helps take the guess work out of which colours to use. John continues with a useful overview of materials needed and some ways to save on the initial expense of setting up. Buying the basics he describes and adding to the range later as you progress will save wasting money on materials you don't need. He then moves on to describe some basic techniques needed to begin oil painting such as preparing your canvas, basic brush control and colour mixing. These are accompanied by some simple but very useful exercises to follow. The following gallery section contains some examples of oil paintings that have used the medium in different ways showing just how versatile oil paints can be. The book gives eight step by step projects using the techniques explained. They take a range of subjects from still life to landscape and cover various forms of using the materials including glazing, painting with a knife, colour blending and working dark to light. John sets out with each project exactly what is needed and what skills are to be utilized The steps are very clearly set out and photographed and John constantly adds little tips to enhance the work. Having worked through these demonstrations you will have learned an excellent grounding in techniques needed to be able to produce your own rewarding and delightful paintings.
* JeannieZelos.com *
July 09
The basic principle of this ingenious series is by now established. The cover includes a simple colour wheel and then the body of the text provides a series of eight demonstrations based around specific colour combinations. Neither of these things is original on its own, but the idea of putting them together is really quite inspired and provides a way in to what is for many a tricky subject. The original watercolour volume used a trick paper that was supposed to mimic watercolour paper, not altogether successfully, but neither of its successors has gone down that path. However, the illustrations in both do seem rather dark, here to the point almost of murkiness and I do wonder whether there is a reproduction issue. That aside, the series is a bold and largely successful attempt to provide a way through the maze that is colour mixing and is to be welcomed for that.
* Artbookreview.net *
July 09
Last year I reviewed John Barber's The Watercolor Wheel Book (also up on this site) and here is its sister publication, showing you all about using oil paints. How these books differ from ordinary color wheel theory books is that they actually have a wheel on the cover that you can rotate and align to see what you get if you mix two colors together. It was a neat idea last year, and it continues to be so with this new title. Aimed mainly at the beginner to oil painting, it tells you the basics and then gives you a few projects to work through. I've never found color mixing or wheel theory an easy thing to get to grips with myself, and hate wasting paint mixing a sludgy shade that bears no resemblance to what I was aiming for. This takes the guesswork and the type of experimentation that leads to this sort of mess, and in addition I thought that the color wheel itself was more than adequately explained. This book also contains a section on how to use it, and a helpful chapter on what you need to buy. This includes how to look after tubes of oil paint, which is so important, but not something usually covered as well as how to use old tubes if you inherit any. It also tells you which brushes to buy, and yes - how to look after those too! The rest of the book is filled with projects, which show you in a number of stages how to paint a certain picture while teaching you a couple of new techniques each time. There are a number of different types of picture including landscapes, seascapes, flowers, a cockerel and market scene are and still life. This is a fine book for the beginner or improver, and would make an excellent gift.
* Myshelf.com *
