Oil Painting Techniques And Materials

Such provocative assertions are characteristic of this stimulating and informative guide, written in a higly personal and unique style by a noted painter and teacher. Brimming with pertinent insights into the technical aspects of painting in oils, it is also designed to help students perfect powers of observation and expression. Harold Speed has distilled years of painting and pedagogical experience into an expert instructional program covering painting technique, painting from life, materials, a painter's training, and more. Especially instructive is his extensive and perceptive discussion of form, tone and color, and a fascinating series of detailed "Notes" analyzing the painting styles of Velasquez, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Franz Hals, and Rembrandt. Nearly 70 photographs and drawings illustrate the text, among them prehistoric cave paintings, diagrams of tonal values, stages of portrait painting, and reproductions of masterpieces by Giotto, Vermeer, Ingres, Rembrandt, Titian, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Hals, Giorgione, Poussin, Corot, Veronese, and other luminaries. In addition to these pictorial pleasures, the author further leavens the lessons with thought-provoking opinion.