Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors

Can't wait to make good use of it.

It is interesting to read the reviews on a book like this and then to finally get the book to decide its quality for myself. Sometimes, my opinion is so different from some of the reviews that I wonder if we were reading the same book! That is the case with this book. I think that it is outstanding! I bought Betty Edwards' book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" way back when it was first released and it improved the quality of my drawing enormously. This book on "Color" has done the same for me on seeing and mixing color pigments. I finally understand! The book presents color theory with exercises on seeing and mixing colors in a very logical, step by step manner. Each chapter builds on the previous chapter, so that by the end of the book, you will have a thorough understanding of how color pigments work. More importently, you will understand how to mix any color your need. Of course, the mixing is a skill that must be practiced and if the exercises in the book are carefully followed, you will get plenty of very productive practice! I have always had a lot of trouble mixing color pigments and often ended up with mud. I now understand why and how to correct it! I never understood how color complements really worked, and now I do. I never understood how to brighten and darken color pigments without ending up with strange looking "Stuff" on my pallette. Now I understand. I never understood how to create effective color harmony. I have read many books on color harmony that were just pictures of harmonious color arrengements with little instruction on how to arrive at them. Now I know how to start with one or two base colors and create a beautiful, harmonious palette of color ! Outstanding!! If you need to understand any aspect of mixing color pigments, this is the book to get! Absolutely disregard the negative review on this site. As a matter of fact, don't even bother to read the review. It is a waste of time. The person who wrote it could not possibly have been reading the same book!!

I just got my copy of this book and am planning how to execute the exercises. Other readers have offered summaries and their views, so I will skip the summary here. The layout and organization of the book is pleasing and logically presented. I can sympathize with the reader from France who complains that a couple of the acrylic paint names are not available. This should be fixed in future editions but you should simply look for the nearest possible pigment (despite her caveat to the contrary)--what I think she is advising most against is falling in love with the more complex paint colors available and not disciplining yourself to stay with the basics. I wish that the exercises were amenable to colored pencils and I will try them with colored pencils first (a glutton for punishment, perhaps?). Some of what she discusses is in the earlier books but this is certainly extended much further in this volume and it is comfortable reading. Luckily, she has largely omitted her discussions of left/right brain theory, making this book more accessible to readers unfamiliar with or hostile to her view. I am also sure that some 'real' artists, or artists of the more romantic bent will rail against her presenting color theory in this way. I believe that it is true that it is better to rebel once you have learned at least one formal system. Her approach is probably most helpful to those of us intimidated by art classes and artists but who want to learn to express ourselves visually and extend this area of our capacity.

If you paint and use color, or just want to appreciate color in painting, this is the book. What makes Betty Edwards a wonderful teacher is her ability to question what she is doing as a teacher and then find ways to introduce new ways to study the material so as to bring the essence of the lessons home to the student. In this book she explains that her students were not grasping the essence of color and how to render it effectively. After some thought she developed new lessons that explained to the students how to understand and use color. These lessons are now brought to us in the form of this tomb. I have executed the lessons, and they work. Even though I have been painting for 10 years I learned a lot from this book and doing the exercises. Doing the exercises is key, but they are very straight forward to do and one can learn even in "failure" (I had to do a couple of them more than once). So there you have it. This is an instructional book that works in that it communicates to the reader (student) lessons about color and color usage that are invaluable. The lessons are clear and the results of doing the lessons are an increased understanding of art and color. Highly recommended.

I learned to draw about 15 years ago from Betty Edward's classic DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN. I went from having what I thought of as no talent to producing portraits people actually have offered to buy! For years I've stayed with pencil, however, never quite understanding color. No more-- this book is the perfect bridge from drawing to painting. If you have some knowlege of monochrome drawing and want to make the leap to full color painting this is THE book for you. If you don't think you can draw, read Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain first before tackling this one. Both are simply outstanding.