An Introduction to Painting Still Life

Beginning and less-experienced painters will probably find a great deal to emulate in this British import. There are several photos of still-life paintings, mostly by contemporary artists, a number by the author himself. There are step-by-step breakdowns of the painting process, following several works from the bare canvas or paper to a shiny fresh finish. And for more experienced and intermediate artists, there is a chapter at the back of the book introducing advanced techniques to produce works with a subtler, more finished look. One of the major selling points is that this book does not limit itself to a single painting form. The author instructs the reader in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and even pastel drawing. A beginner who is just learning art and is shopping for a personal form can try several methods out and find one which works. And a more experienced painter who is looking to branch out and shoulder new challenges can compare options until one stands out. Of course no book is perfect. The paintings reproduced in here are photo-reduced to fit the coffee-table format, so you can't study the artists' brushwork. Photos of artists' supplies have a disproportionate share of Winsor & Newton, almost like a commercial. The author uses jargon, like mentioning mixing linseed and turps into your oil paints, without bothering to explain what this means to beginners. And the step-by-step instructions, though good, sometimes have too much material added between steps, so you can't quite figure out what happened between pictures. Despite these complaints, I would have to recommend this book to students. This book is good for self-instruction, and could probably be used as a classrom text as well. No book will ever deliver a skill wrapped up like a Christmas present--you have to knuckle down and actually practice the painting techniques detailed here--but if you actually follow the author's pointers you'll be headed in the right direction.