COLOR IS EVERYTHING: Master the Use of Color in Oils, Acrylics or Watercolors - Softcover

Dan Bartges

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1892538369 ISBN 13: 9781892538369

Publisher: Oaklea Press, 2008

Synopsis

For beginners to advanced artists who have been struggling with color, this remarkable new book explains and illustrates how to understand color theory and master the use of color. Written in cooperation with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Color Wheel Company, Color Is Everything is a must-read for any painter, art teacher or craft enthusiast who wants to capture color harmony in every painting, regardless of style or medium. It is written in a concise yet conversational manner and very easy to follow. Author/artist Dan Bartges sums it up best: This book is designed with one purpose in mind: to show painters exactly how to master color. As a result, you will gain greater confidence, you will paint better pictures, and you will have a lot more fun painting.

The unusually high-quality book features more than 100 full-color illustrations, photographs and paintings by the author. Further, it clearly explains what great artists know about color that most painters don t and demonstrates with master works by famous artists such as Degas, Picasso, de Kooning, Sisley, Goya, Sargent and others.

About this title

About the Author

A full-time artist since 1996, Dan Bartges is a recognized expert on color theory, lecturing at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D. C., the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and other venues. His oil paintings and watercolors have been acquired by many private collectors and several Fortune 500 companies including Marriott, Lockheed Martin and Media General. Fine-art reproductions of his paintings have been featured in retail stores from Smith & Hawken to WalMart. Bartges and his family live in Virginia, and he enjoys tennis, bicycling and classic movies when not painting. He holds BA and MA degrees.

Reviews

Adult/High School—This accessible book offers the equivalent of an introduction to both color theory and art appreciation worthy of a high school or community college course. Bartges provides clear explanations—well illustrated with both color wheels and famous paintings—of how color schemes work and how to achieve color balance in one's own paintings. His choice of emblematic works to deconstruct are better varied than in traditional textbooks, offering works by women, self-taught painters, and people of color as well as the expected Picasso, Sargent, and Degas. Exercises include images teens will appreciate, such as a slice of blueberry pie that looks truly mouthwatering. Although there are write-in spaces for some of the exercises, these are few and the volume is not a workbook. The small bibliography suggests texts librarians will recognize as standards but may lead novice teen artists to them for the first time. A final section called "Ten Quick Tips from the Studio" provides real gems that even first-time painters can appreciate.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oaklea Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1892538369
• ISBN 13: 9781892538369
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96