The Big Book of Painting Nature in Oil

Rating:
Summary: Helpful book especially for "home schooled" painters
Review: I didn't know what to expect when I purchased "The Big Book of Painting Nature in Oil". But, after my initial misgivings, I have found it enormously useful as a reference for composition, color selection and methods to paint difficult subject matter (for a beginning artist with no formal art education) such as forests, fog, grass. When I paint outside, I take it with me. It has helped me be more selective in setting up my painting and helped me to simplify. Wonderful book! I'm glad I bought it.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful book especially for "home schooled" painters
Review: I didn't know what to expect when I purchased "The Big Book of Painting Nature in Oil". But, after my initial misgivings, I have found it enormously useful as a reference for composition, color selection and methods to paint difficult subject matter (for a beginning artist with no formal art education) such as forests, fog, grass. When I paint outside, I take it with me. It has helped me be more selective in setting up my painting and helped me to simplify. Wonderful book! I'm glad I bought it.

Rating:
Summary: An outstanding comprehensive visual aid for painting
Review: I own many art books, but this one is impressive. The author shows photographs and resulting paintings for 135 different landscape painting situations. I find it extremely helpful to see not only the final painting, but also the original photographed scene on which it was based. To me this book is invaluable. I also love the artist's personal style, which is expressive yet realistic. In fact, I love the whole book and return to it again and again for help and inspiration and sometimes just to admire the wonderful paintings! This is a must-have for landscape artists.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the realistic painter
Review: I returned this book after flipping through the pages in less than a half-hour. The paintings are more expressive and impressionist than realistic--which is great if that's what your goal is to paint. For me, I want realistic paintings down to the smallest detail. The book has demos for painting specific details like fog, snow covered rocks, reflections in rivers and streams and so on, but they aren't realistic. Like I said earlier, they're more expressive. Not my style.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful guide to oil painting technique
Review: The Big Book of Painting Nature in Oil should be a standard reference in every oil painting library. From the most basic landscape of a lone tree to the intricate details of autumn color, the reader-painter is taken on a journey of discovery.
Beginners to seasoned landscape artists will appreciate the attention given to the palette, color mixing, supports, materials, and techniques. Each painting lesson features a reference photograph and step-by-step instructions that, with time and practice, help the reader become a better artist.

Rating:
Summary: Text good, pictures could be better
Review: There is a lot of information is this book for the oil painter; however, the paintings do not illustrate the information well.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, shows reduction of detail from photo to painting.
Review: This book shows how a painting can capture the essence of a landscape photo without the complexity of every bush tree and rock contained in a photoghaph. There are sections on changing the natural focal point away from animals to a prominent landscape. The sequencing of the development of the painting is easy to follow and little interpretation is required. It's very well presented with a great amount of detail which covers a vast number of settings. Seashore to mountains to forests, plains, and eastern lakes and streams are shown. A great addition to your how to and how to solve library.