Paint Happy!

The art techniques included in this book are simple, yet they encourage creativity and the exploration of line, color, form, composition and texture. Although primarily for acrylics and pastels, there are demonstrations that incorporate a variety of other materials. In addition, the exercises could easily be adapted for artists of all ages - highly recommendable for teachers. The book lives up to its title, "Paint Happy!"

This is such an awesome book. I was impressed how easily the sketches became art. I had such a "Duh" moment when I thumbed through this book! I can easily follow the instruction and transfer my imagination onto my canvas. I paint in oil and this book is a tremendous help. I absolutely love the bold, beautiful colors. A fantastic buy!

Wonderful book with great fun art lessons!! It uses acrylic and pastels and the main media, but you could use many other media with what you will learn from this book. This book is beautiful and very uplifting. Not only that, but it is filled to the brim with valuable lessons on design that I had little background in, and that most of my watercolor books don't expand on enough. It teaches you a lot about shapes, connecting shapes, lines, how repetition can create interest and excitement, variation and repetition, creating movement with shapes and how they are connected with lines, smooth and textured surfaces,, patterned and plain surfaces, soft and hard edges (lost and found) painting with your mind's eye and not exactly what you see in front of you ("if you can't see it, imagine it!" p. 60), how colors interact with each other--not just when mixed, but when put next to each other, how there is "more than one way to paint a picture", how "a series of possibilities can make a series", "when more is better"--i.e. knowing when to embellish, "when enough is enough", geometric and organic shapes, how does a shape take on a form?, creating form using values, play with 2-D and 3-D in a painting, color and value balance---warming a painting vs cooling a painting, using limited color schemes, conveying space--flat space vs. space created with forms vs. deep space vs. ambiguous space. Part 3 of this fun learning book is how to "Paint Your Home Happy"--basically using what you have learned from the rest of the book and incorporating it into painting on lampshades, walls, furniture, tiles, other ceramics, etc.. I bought this book not really knowing what to expect. The delightfulness of the front cover was inspiring. I mostly do watercolors and pottery. This book mostly uses acrylics and pastels in the demonstrations, but after reading this book thoroughly, I know I will enjoy using a lot of the information and demonstration methods in my watercolors, and also my pottery that I like to paint with underglazes. There is a LOT to learn and enjoy in this book. It is filled with many exercises to help you learn and wake your sleeping creativity. It is not a "how to paint a landscape" type of book, but more, how to paint with a certain style of your own using the knowledge of shapes, lines, color, repetition, etc. to convey what you feel. GREAT BOOK!!

I just bought this book a week ago and I have already framed two pictures that I have painted with its help. I enjoyed painting them, they were simple and not challenging, just how I like painting. You can use the author's ideas with your own style thrown in. I'm happy that I bought this book.

I am a hobbyist, not a great artist. I found myself irresistibly drawn to do art, but I didn't enjoy it much. Other people liked my realistic work, but I didn't: it had been a ton of work and I didn't feel there was much of myself in it; it certainly didn't express how I wanted to feel when I did art. Cristina Acosta's book helped so much. It began with some really helpful two-handed exercises. There's a good balance between text and pictures. Now when I find myself bogged down in a drawing with too much realism and that's too much work, I say to myself, "Now draw it again in the Paint Happy way." Then I re-draw the picture and have a fun time. I like my paintings now. They're bright and they're MINE. Thanks to Cristina Acosta for a really revolutionary approach to art. It isn't "art-work" anymore, it's "art-fun."