Alla Prima II: Everything I Know about Painting - and More

by Richard Schmid, Katie Swatland

Uncover important technique and theories to improve your painting. Take a look at visual refrences and concepts from historical and contempary artists.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art Design, Drawing, How To, Reference

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Jana Bouc · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a wonderful book, of course, but frustrating to read because of the larger, wider format than the previous edition. More pictures, more text, but as is the case with so many self-published books, would have been better and more powerful if there was a more vigorous editing process to cut some of the extra verbiage that in my opinion makes it harder to separate the fluff from the important stuff. It seems like he literally included everything he knows, and that doesn't make for as useful a book as I would have preferred since some of it is just random story-telling.

That said, it's still one of the best books on alla prima oil painting, just a bit of a bear to hold and read.

[Maryna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Schmid has left a great legacy to all the artists, this book is a part of it. It is definitely one of my favorite books written with a great care, attention to every subject he is explaining here, and in a very warm and lively style that makes it not only very useful, but also an exciting, inspirational reading material. I will treasure it forever.
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Reading it the second time was just as interesting and possibly even more beneficial. I was doing it during the breaks while resting from painting, and Richards words were like a wise friend giving a very needed and timely good advice. He was a great master indeed.

[John Beattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book, well laid out with and easy to follow narrative. I am an accomplished artist and I feel this book is an excellent resource for the beginner through to the professional artist. I have the paperback version and am impressed with the larger size, suitable for the reading room or the studio.
Richard's extensive knowledge combined with his sometimes lyrical humour make this an informative and easy to read book. A little pricey but if your serious about your art you should get a copy.

[MeKenzie Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful book! Richard Schmid's sense of humor made it more entertaining than I expected, and not only that, he made it more relatable, so it's easier to remember.

What I loved about this book is that it felt like I was having a light-hearted and serious discussion with my best friend about the myriad of art topics. I don't think I've found that kind of atmosphere in other books. At least not yet!

In this book he showed a different way of painting and showed that painting itself can be a spiritual experience by getting to know yourself and learning how to see what moves you.

Highly recommended!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough outline of the basics and not-so-basics of painting.

Very expensive book though, and I don't like that there is a companion that you have to buy separately.

Also did not like the size of the book - the pages are really wide which wasn't as comfortable reading as a narrower page is.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the section on edges - and squinting (p. 162) - extremely helpful.

[Andy Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for serious oil painters especially. Dabblers like me can’t use all the detailed information about light and color, for example, but now I know where to find this information. The lessons on values, color rendition, edges, and blocking-in are applicable to any medium and I haven’t seen them elsewhere.

Most readers criticize the format, weight, and cost of the book, but these decisions were clearly based on presenting the paintings as effectively as possible, on high quality paper (hence the weight and landscape orientation). And the text is wordy, but the author’s conversational style forces the reader to slow down and take in the information at a rate the brain can actually absorb. The cost follows from these decisions.

I borrowed the book from a very distant library (through my local library) and read it thoroughly over 4 weeks, making my own notes. I also photographed some of the more important pages.

Highly recommended.

[Btul · Rating 5 out of 5]

took a long time to finish this book but totally worth it.
Richart is amazing! he taught me to find the real freedom and pleasure of painting while simultaneously preserve the ability to make a wonderful painting.
he explains his technique with simple language and adds to it a sense of humour every now and then so that's very pleasant to read, unlike other boring art books fill with longs instructions and difficult words.
and overall what I like about Richart, is his open-mindedness and experimental side. he's always somewhere in between...not very strict with specific art movement and nor strictly against one.

[Tautvydas Rasimka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended to any artist/painter. A book that has so much. First, a came across it in my first atelier where I started learning a visual language. Before the class, I would skim through it, and I would pick a small bit here and there that would help me to "click" things in place while I was practising. Later in life, I got my own copy and read it all, I knew that this book is not meant to be finished ever, you can always come back to it. Sadly Richard just recently left the world with us, but his legend will stay for very long.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a superb reference book if, like me, you wish to understand more about what is generally now called the ‘atelier’ technique of painting. Schmid has plenty of gentle wisdom and practical tips for training your eye and brush. I will admit, the thought of the multi-week colour panel exercise made me want to lie on the floor and die a little bit. But that’s what this technique entails. I’m sure I’ll be making great use of this book for the rest of my painting career.

[PandoramicView · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought it was wonderful. The author is a pleasure to read, and I appreciate his clear expression of the difference between the experience of seeing a thing and what's there.

The sections that I felt I benefitted from the most were those talking about specificity of idea, edges, and color temperature.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best technical art books I've ever read. A beast of a book at 300+ pages and big enough to be a text book, it took me 5 years to pick it up in the first place and I finished it in 3 days. Highly recommend picking this up to study if you are a beginner/intermediate oil painter of any kind.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A painting manual illustrated by many paintings and advise on how to reach the goals of well composed paintings- he is a master artist. So much to learn and to absorb in so many pages- a great reference book.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of helpful information. I wish I had read this years ago, but it is only now that I would’ve understood a lot of it. This is true of many art books...by the time you’re ready to absorb the advice, you’ve already made all the mistakes the author warns you about.

[Matt Waggle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A generous and no-nonsense treatise on Alla Prima oil painting. I've had good and bad art classes - reading this feels like I found the perfect art teacher. Beautiful in print - worth the investment I read it often.

[Kait · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has tons of really helpful tips and some helpful exercises/ guides. However there’s no reason it needed to be 300 pages. Super repetitive sections and too much prose.

Great painter with great tips though!

[Emmy MW · Rating 5 out of 5]

I understand now why every artist raves about this book. Definitely a must-have- from beginner artists to pros.

Two big take-aways from this book
1) Squint! Squint! Squint!

2) Do a colour chart.

[Sebastián Posada · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for any painter.

[Megangoldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way you look at me makes my breath hitch. Let's rewrite the script for tonight, with a touch more passion in every glance.

[Qin Cai · Rating 5 out of 5]

The "Must Read" if you want to learn to paint from life. BTW, you get colorful pictures of Richard's work. His amazing brushwork is so delightful!

[Erginartesia · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for the classic how to guides, don't bother. If you are further down the path and want to learn the approach, general workflows, advise on traditional practices, this is the book for you.

Richard is very generous with his information, and he tells you about his half a century of development as an alla prima artist in a collaborative way.

There are tons of paintings in here and they are all beautiful and inspiring. The quality of the book is worthy of showing them to you.

[Quynh Vo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful reproduction of Richard's paintings. He talks like an old friend, telling his life stories and his thought process, sometimes quite repetitive, sometimes he raises his voice (in bold, italics, or capitalization or all at the same time), but he puts it all out there. Like in painting class you would hear your teachers repeats a thousand time "Go darker," you thought they have gone mad. The book could have been much shorter, more bullet points, straight to the ideas, more elegant and effective in a sense, but surely much less authentic.

[Roger Snell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't resist buying every book on how to improve my paintings. I delayed buying this one for years because of its $100 price tag. But you get what you pay for.

This is easily the best and most comprehensive book on painting that I've ever found.

Richard Schmid passed away earlier his year as a true master artist of everything he touched -- from portraits and floral still lifes to landscapes. This heartfelt book shares 70 years of what he learned to become the art master.

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about action packed! (At least for painters, that is.) I love how he addresses that painting is full of contradictions.

[Tony Monk II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learn how to paint with all types of tips and tricks from this master artist in this friendly read. It's all in this book.