Book Review: The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting {Blogging for Books}

The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting- Techniques for Rendering Sky, Terrain, Trees, and Water by Suzanne Brooker

ISBN: 978-0-8041-3755-3

Hardcover, 198 pages
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
Retail: $35.00

***This post contains Amazon affiliate links. See Disclosure/Policies.***

About the book (from Blogging for Books):
A landscape painting guide for oil painters that breaks landscapes down into component elements from nature, and showcases tools and techniques used by classic and modern oil painters for bringing these scenes to life.
Landscape painting is one of the most popular subjects for painters working in the medium of oils--from classic masters to contemporary artists. In The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting, established Watson-Guptill author and noted instructor/painter Suzanne Brooker presents the fundamentals necessary for mastering landscape oil painting, breaking landscapes down into component parts: sky, terrain, trees, and water. Each featured element builds off the previous, with additional lessons on the latest brushes, paints, and other tools used by artists. Key methods like observation, rendering, and color mixing are supported by demonstration paintings and samples from a variety of the best landscape oil painters of all time. With The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting, oil painters looking to break into landscape painting or enhance their work will find all the necessary ingredients for success.

About the author (from Penguin Random House):

Suzanne Brooker received her BFA at the California Institute of the Arts in 1979, attended by invitation the Whitney Museum Independent Study program in New York City, and pursued her drawing studies at the School of Visual Arts. In 1990 Brooker returned to the West Coast and studied life drawing with Gary Faigin at the Gage Academy of Art and completed her MFA in figurative painting under Domenic Cretera at California State University, Long Beach. The author of Portrait Painting Atelier (2011), Brooker currently paints and teaches drawing and painting at the Gage Academy.

My thoughts:

Beautiful book that I *hope* will help me learn to use oil paints to paint landscapes. I have heard both pros and cons to oil painting. This book makes it seem doable! And the chosen paintings in the book are wonderfully chosen to illustrate how to follow through with techniques. 

You can see the table of contents at this Amazon affiliate link*. 

I'm including just a couple shots of the book so you can see what I mean (but you can see more of how beautifully it is presented by looking at the link above). 

Now I do not have oil paints yet. If you are like me and were waiting to see some paint brand recommendations, you'll be somewhat disappointed. There are no real recommendations for paint brands. Rather there are guidelines on what to look for in paint. It is more about the use of the materials; or as she says in the beginning chapter, "The first rule regarding materials is to never let them get in the way of your success!" (p. 22).

With that said, paint recommendations was not why I decided to review this book. It talks about the how to paint landscapes with oil paints. As the subtitle states, the focus is on sky, terrain, trees, and water. In each of these settings she discusses observations, drawing concepts, toned grounds (on the canvas), palettes, brush techniques, and some demonstration paintings. All of these topics are covered in a nice easy conversational manner; there is a sense of having a teacher who really wants you to learn this, not just a teacher who really wants to show off what they know.

With this book, I do think working with oil paints will be doable. I just have to now get the supplies- of which I guess I will need to look elsewhere for specific recommendations as I am a complete beginner.

Translating what you see into a painted image is a complex process, combining perception and the technical language of paint. It is never merely copying what you literally see...Your job as a painter is not to be literal, especially when working from photographic sources in the studio; instead, you should think of yourself as a visual conductor, arranging, editing, and elaborating on the elements that present themselves in a scene (p. 2).

Overall a very well-done book. I would recommend it to those who have some prior oil painting knowledge rather than a beginning oil painting book. (Not that the author or publisher ever suggested this was a beginners book.) I am thankful I've had the opportunity to receive this book free through the Blogging for Books program for review.