Recommended Books

Helpful books to have in your library:

"Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting" 
by John Carlson
This is the plein air painter's bible. If you paint outside, buy it.

"Fill Your Paintings with Light and Color"
by Kevin MacPherson
Another painters' bible. Just buy it too. Even if you aren't a plein air painter, Kevin's book is filled with fundamental things every oil painter should know. A fantastic place to start if you are new to painting.

"Composition of Outdoor Painting"
by Edgar Payne
A difficult to read how-to book because of Payne's verbosity, but worth the attempt nonetheless. Many people buy the book just to have Payne's thumbnails that graphically explain various compositional ideas. But remember, no matter how much Payne may try to convince you, there are no sure-fire compositional tricks that work every time.

"Alla Prima, Everything I Know About Painting"
by Richard Schmid
One of the best contemporary observational painters of our generation. He died recently and we all mourn the loss. This is not a how-to-paint book, but rather a how-to-see book, which in the end is far more important. If you only have one art book in your art library, this should be it.

"Hawthorne on Painting"
Mrs. Charles W. Hawthorne
There are some sound classical techniques covered in Hawthorne's book but some of it is now a bit outdated by current conservation science. But it is an interesting read anyway if you are interested in the old school of painting.

"Brushwork Essentials"
by Mark Christopher Weber
Excellent resource to learn new ways to lay down your paint. Weber's book offers practical advice on brushes; meaning how to hold them, how to load them with paint, and how to touch the surface. This book will encourage you to vary your mark-making, which will always add interest to your work.

"The Art Spirit"
by Robert Henri
A classic...no, THE classic. It is the book to thumb through whenever you may feel a bit discouraged. And inspirational, even when things are going well.

"Alla Prima: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Painting"
Al Gury
A fine good how-to book which presents most alla prima concerns every new oil painter encounters when starting out. But I'm a bit at a loss as to why Gury considers a two session painting qualifies as alla prima. (Not that every painting must be started and completed within one session.)

"Changing Images of Pictorial Space: 
A History of Spatial Illusion in Painting"
by William Dunning

A deeply profound yet enjoyable art history book which surveys how many historic painters depicted space and form – from Pre-Renaissance to Post-Modernism. Don't let the title put you off. It's a must read if you want to know your stuff, and the author (who sadly was a friend and mentor and now deceased) was once a noted sculptor & painter himself. I actually picked up a lot of techniques from this book, even though it is largely an historical overview and not a how-to manual. It's one thing to say Da Vinci, Caravaggio, and Rubens were different from each other. It's another to actually understand how and why.

"The Judgment of Paris: 
The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism" 
by Ross King
A terrific read about the conflict that blew up between the old guard of the 19th-century French Salon and the upstart French Impressionists. It speaks to the economical and political forces that defined both groups and gives you a good feel for the crazy passions of both sides during the period. Again, a fun read. King is one of my favorite art historians.

"The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colors"
by M.E. Chevreul
(Translated from the French in 1894) Chevreul broke down color into its most basic manipulatable components: Hue, Value, and Chroma. He also described how different colors interact with each other in our eyes and brain. Chevreul's scientific approach to color launched French Impressionism, and affected almost every other major painting movements that followed. Most contemporary theorists simply restate Chevreul's earlier ideas: Itten, Albers, and Munsell repeat what Chevreul said. So if you've read any of those theorists you will understand Chevreul's book.

And speaking of Itten...

"The Art of Color: 
The Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Color"
by Johannes Itten
This is Itten's larger book on color and you will want to read it on a table. It is expensive but I recommend it over his smaller abbreviated book "The Elements of Color" because it not only presents the essential color principles, it presents examples of how those principles function in European masterworks. It is one thing to understand color theory, and another thing to see it in use. However, I do offer one caveat about the larger monograph: since most copies currently in circulation have been printed using a standard four-color printing technology, some of the color effects Itten discusses can be hard to see. So if you ever come across one of Itten's hand silk-screened editions at a garage sale, buy it. Because it will be worth a fortune...