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Color for Painters: A Guide to Traditions and Practice
Mastering A Practical Approach
Adding color to any canvas is both art and science. In fact, it’s a discipline that can be explored and learned through the practical application of techniques that Al Gury has developed during his nearly 30 years of teaching at America’s first fine arts institution, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Richly illustrated with more than 270 full color images, including masterpieces from the past 500 years of Western painting, this book offers the instruction every painter needs to confidently construct a painting with color. Color for Painters :
-Traces the use of color in Western art from the classical world to the present.
-Explores the use and properties of various pigments and materials.
-Reviews the evolving approaches to color (from tonal to pointillism to the modern use of color as psychological expression).
-Presents exercises for mixing and using paints.
-Offers step-by-step demonstrations of all the basic color genres and techniques.
Students, experienced painters, teachers, and anyone who appreciates fine art will treasure this exploration of painting’s “wild beast.”
Adding color to any canvas is both art and science. In fact, it’s a discipline that can be explored and learned through the practical application of techniques that Al Gury has developed during his nearly 30 years of teaching at America’s first fine arts institution, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Richly illustrated with more than 270 full color images, including masterpieces from the past 500 years of Western painting, this book offers the instruction every painter needs to confidently construct a painting with color. Color for Painters :
-Traces the use of color in Western art from the classical world to the present.
-Explores the use and properties of various pigments and materials.
-Reviews the evolving approaches to color (from tonal to pointillism to the modern use of color as psychological expression).
-Presents exercises for mixing and using paints.
-Offers step-by-step demonstrations of all the basic color genres and techniques.
Students, experienced painters, teachers, and anyone who appreciates fine art will treasure this exploration of painting’s “wild beast.”
- GenresArtNonfiction
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 26, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 16, 2019
An interesting work for advanced students or practicing artists on the history and current use of color in Western painting with an emphasis on oils and acrylics. Gury starts out with a history of color use that evolves into a discussion of pigments, palettes(colors used by a given artist) used by historical artists and brushes. He wraps up this first part with some brief notes on opacity and transparency of colors.
It then continues on with a lengthy section on different historical painting techniques. Examples include underpainting, washes, glazes as well as many other painting methods. There is some talk of seeing color and other perceptions based on lighting and composition. He follows this up with a description of how given schools of art based their aesthetic on how they used color.
There is a brief section on color exercises with color wheels and swatches, but it feels more like a reminder for people who already know this subject. I would recommend Color: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors if you're a beginner in this subject. The book concludes with a short series of step by step painting demonstrations that show how art movements like impressionism and a few others created their art.
This is more of a theory book than a hands on one, the various practical bits good easily be expanded into books of their own. I'm not sure if I would keep this as a reference, but it's certainly a good introduction to how the many schools of Western art used and thought about color. Also, due to the large amount and quality of the illustrations, I'm not sure if this would as good as an e-book.
It then continues on with a lengthy section on different historical painting techniques. Examples include underpainting, washes, glazes as well as many other painting methods. There is some talk of seeing color and other perceptions based on lighting and composition. He follows this up with a description of how given schools of art based their aesthetic on how they used color.
There is a brief section on color exercises with color wheels and swatches, but it feels more like a reminder for people who already know this subject. I would recommend Color: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors if you're a beginner in this subject. The book concludes with a short series of step by step painting demonstrations that show how art movements like impressionism and a few others created their art.
This is more of a theory book than a hands on one, the various practical bits good easily be expanded into books of their own. I'm not sure if I would keep this as a reference, but it's certainly a good introduction to how the many schools of Western art used and thought about color. Also, due to the large amount and quality of the illustrations, I'm not sure if this would as good as an e-book.
November 1, 2022
Fascinating overview of the use and storage of pigments and paint from prehistoric to modern times. (I didn't know that animal bladders were the original paint tubes, for example.) Gury covers color theory, various approaches to color, classic and contemporary methods and materials, and showcases some intriguing examples of paintings with info about the specific colors most likely used.
April 10, 2019
A good basic guide to color use and technique.
September 20, 2013
Another book I'm using to help teach art to my children. I think they'll find the 3-D model of a color wheel on p. 26 interesting. In general the text is complicated, but the pictures are lovely and reading only captions while turning pages would impart a lot of information in a beautiful way. Chapter 5, starting p 140, shows many pictures of professional art student color charts and continues into discussion of color and disability. I hadn't thought about all the types of visual impairments that exist, and how they can challenge an artist and be overcome. It was a thought-provoking section to read.
January 16, 2016
I checked this book out at the library and found it so useful that I have ordered a copy to keep as a reference. This book is not only about color. It also goes into some detail about materials, light, techniques and various painting styles. This is an excellent book that I think would be helpful especially for beginning to intermediate level oil painters in particular.
October 14, 2012
An extremely helpful book on the basics of color, even with neat exercises in it! A definite keeper.
April 2, 2012
Great Book with several painting techniques.
April 10, 2017
A very good reference on how colour impacts paintings of all sorts. I like how the paintings used were the same ones referenced in the text.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews