[kermitt]

Hey all, just wanted to ask all of you art icons out there if there are any books that have to deal with painting techniques and such that I might get my hands on. I am an absolutely terrible painter, but I have to take it to graduate and it's brigging my grades down. I also have a personal interest in improving, but I think that a book on techniques would really help. thanks in advance.

[A.Buttle]

Try the "Search" link...

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So...which part of "get out of town freak" weren't you clear on, John?

Joe Dillingham

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Three Times A Day

[samdragon]

You can search the forums for "painting books" or "art books" and I'm sure you'll get tons of them.
You can also check out www.budplant.com for some books. But beware, some books are good and some are bad. you can learn alot from books, but the best way to learn is to just start painting. Buy some cheap paint, and go for it. Remember to keep your pallet full of paint, don't "starve it" as a famous artist once said.
Try to paint from nature if you can, there are plenty of colors outside,even in the winter. Learn how light works, not necessarily the technical aspects, but learn from what you observe, things like how warm light reacts to colors. The difference between inside light (cool) and outside light (warm)etc.
You can also find an artist(the masters of long ago) you like and try to learn from his/her paintings. You can learn a WHOLE lot by doing that. I studied Sargent for a while and it helped me more than I ever thought. Try to deconstruct the paintings as you're studying them.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. We ALL have to start somewhere and asking questions is a big part of it.

I did happen to find a pretty good book for oil painting. It's called "how to paint like the old masters" by Sheppard. It's a somewhat advanced book, but the author goes over some "interesting techniques"