Best Oil Painting Books – Top 10 Oil Painting Books
I have tried to make a list of oil painting books, I especially like ‘Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting‘. There are millions of books on oil paintings more than one would think so it can be hard to sift through them all.
I have been painting in oils, full time for many years and have quite a collection. Some of the books I regularly come back to are listed here
One that I can never recommend enough is called ‘The Craftsman’s Handbook‘ it is a stunning book full of the most inspiring painting spaces. It is extremely motivational!
1. Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting
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Written by a famous American painter and teacher, whose landscapes are found in many of the world’s most noted museums, this book is known as one of the art students’ most helpful guides. It provides a wealth of advice on the choice of subject; it tells what to look for and aim for, and explains the mysteries of color, atmospheric conditions, and other phenomena to be found in nature.
Through his profound understanding of the physical nature of landscapes and his highly developed artistic sense, John Carlson is able to explain both the whys and the hows of the various aspects of landscape painting. Among the subjects covered are angles and consequent values (an insightful concept necessary for strong overall unity of design), aerial and linear perspective, the painting of trees, the emotional properties of line and mass in composition, light, unity of tone, choice of subject, and memory work. In the beginning chapters, the author tells how to make the best of canvas, palette, colors, brushes, and other materials and gives valuable advice about texture, glazing, varnishing, bleaching, retouching, and framing. Thirty-four reproductions of Mr. Carlson’s own work and 58 of his explanatory diagrams are shown on pages adjoining the text.
As Howard Simon says in the introduction: “Crammed into its pages are the thoughts and experiences of a lifetime of painting and teaching. Undoubtedly it is a good book for the beginner, but the old hand at art will appreciate its honesty and broadness of viewpoint. It confines itself to the mechanics of landscape painting but, philosophically, it roams far and wide. . . . This is a book to keep, to read at leisure, and to look into for the solution of problems as they arise, when the need for an experienced hand is felt.”
Through his profound understanding of the physical nature of landscapes and his highly developed artistic sense, John Carlson is able to explain both the whys and the hows of the various aspects of landscape painting. Among the subjects covered are angles and consequent values (an insightful concept necessary for strong overall unity of design), aerial and linear perspective, the painting of trees, the emotional properties of line and mass in composition, light, unity of tone, choice of subject, and memory work. In the beginning chapters, the author tells how to make the best of canvas, palette, colors, brushes, and other materials and gives valuable advice about texture, glazing, varnishing, bleaching, retouching, and framing. Thirty-four reproductions of Mr. Carlson’s own work and 58 of his explanatory diagrams are shown on pages adjoining the text.
As Howard Simon says in the introduction: “Crammed into its pages are the thoughts and experiences of a lifetime of painting and teaching. Undoubtedly it is a good book for the beginner, but the old hand at art will appreciate its honesty and broadness of viewpoint. It confines itself to the mechanics of landscape painting but, philosophically, it roams far and wide. . . . This is a book to keep, to read at leisure, and to look into for the solution of problems as they arise, when the need for an experienced hand is felt.”
2. Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color
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These pages practically glow with Kevin Macpherson’s rich and powerful paintings! He shares his techniques for quickly capturing the mood of a scene in bold, direct brushstrokes, with step-by-step instructions that make it easy—simply a matter of painting the colors you see. Follow his lead and you too, can create landscapes and still lives in a vibrant, impressionistic style.
3. 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor: Achieve precise color when painting landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and more
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Just when you thought there was no hope of ever finding a comprehensive color-mixing resource for oil, acrylic, and watercolor artists, along comes the 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor, a collection of Walter Foster’s bestselling Color Mixing Recipes books, including Color Mixing Recipes for Oil and Acrylic, Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits, Color Mixing Recipes for Watercolor, and the most recent addition, Color Mixing Recipes for Landscapes. This incredible collection comes in a user-friendly concealed spiral-bound format that is tabbed for quick and easy reference. Aspiring artists will also find two removable color mixing grids–one for oil or acrylic, and one for watercolor.
4. Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits: More than 500 Color Combinations for Skin, Eyes, Lips & Hair
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From Caucasian to Latino and East Indian hues, this convenient book features master mixes for an arry of skin colors, plus recipes for hair, eye, and lip colors. The concealed wire-o bound book also includes a plastic color-mixing grid for measuring out paints, as well as a handy conversion chart for finding acrylic equivalents of oil paints and vice versa.
5. The Oil Painting Course You’ve Always Wanted: Guided Lessons for Beginners and Experienced Artists
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Everything you always wanted to know about oil painting…but were afraid to ask. Or maybe you weren’t afraid—maybe you just didn’t know what to ask or where to start. In The Oil Painting Course You’ve Always Wanted, author Kathleen Staiger presents crystal clear, step-by-step lessons that build to reinforce learning. Brush control, creating the illusion of three dimensions, foolproof color mixing, still-life painting, landscapes, and portraits—every topic is covered in clear text, diagrams, illustrations, exercises, and demonstrations. Staiger has taught oil painting for more than thirty-five years; many of her students are now exhibiting and selling their paintings. Everyone from beginning hobby painters, to art students, to BFA graduates has questions about oil painting. Here at last are the answers!
6. Oil Painter’s Bible: An Essential Reference for the Practicing Artist (Artist’s Bibles)
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This hardcover book with internal wire-o binding is 6.5in x 8in, a perfect size for readers to keep handy and reference often. The stylish design of this book, along with the interior photographs, illustrations and diagrams, make the learning process simple and fun for beginners and provides useful tips for more advanced readers.
Learn how to use and enjoy one of the most satisfying painting mediums with this handy compact guide. Contains essential information on the materials, equipment, and techniques for creating accomplished works in oils. Step-by-step sequences show how to paint a range of themes, from still life to portraits and landscapes, with advice on more difficult subjects. Includes suggestions for presenting your finished paintings and how to go about getting your work seen and exhibited. Over 150,000 copies have been sold worldwide.
The Oil Painter’s Bible is a must for anyone who has not used oil paints before, and even those who are familiar with the medium may find some surprises among the range of techniques—and hopefully some new inspiration in the gallery of finished pictures. The book is divided into four main sections: Materials, Color, Techniques, and Subjects. Advanced techniques like glazing, impasto, knife painting, and scumbling will give even the most advanced artists inspiration.
7. The Craftsman’s Handbook: “Il Libro dell’ Arte”
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This is D. V. Thompson’s definitive English translation of Il Libro dell’Arte, an intriguing guide to methods of painting, written in fifteenth-century Florence. Embodying the secrets and techniques of the great masters, it served as an art student’s introduction to the ways of his craft.
Anyone who has ever looked at a medieval painting and marveled at the brilliance of color and quality of surface that have endured for 500 years should find this fascinating reading. It describes such lost arts as gilding stone, making mosaics of crushed eggshell, fashioning saints’ diadems, coloring parchment, making goat glue, and regulating your life in the interests of decorum — which meant shunning women, the greatest cause of unsteady hands in artists. You are told how to make green drapery, black for monks’ robes, trees and plants, oils, beards in fresco, and the proper proportions of a man’s body. (“I will not tell you about the irrational animals because you will never discover any system of proportion in them.”) So practical are the details that readers might be tempted to experiment with the methods given here for their own amusement and curiosity.
Today artists are no longer interested in specific directions on keeping miniver tails from becoming moth-eaten. The Craftsman’s Handbook, in which these are ordinary parts of the artist’s work, appears quaint and naïve to us. And that is much of its charm. But when we remember the magnificent mosaics, paintings, and frescoes these methods produced, the book takes on an even greater value as a touchstone to another age.
“Recommended to the student of art.” — Craft Horizons.“Obviously of great merit.” — Art Material Trade News.“Delightful flavor.” — New York Herald Tribune.Recommended in Harvard List of Great Books on Art, Shaw’s List of Books for College Libraries.
Anyone who has ever looked at a medieval painting and marveled at the brilliance of color and quality of surface that have endured for 500 years should find this fascinating reading. It describes such lost arts as gilding stone, making mosaics of crushed eggshell, fashioning saints’ diadems, coloring parchment, making goat glue, and regulating your life in the interests of decorum — which meant shunning women, the greatest cause of unsteady hands in artists. You are told how to make green drapery, black for monks’ robes, trees and plants, oils, beards in fresco, and the proper proportions of a man’s body. (“I will not tell you about the irrational animals because you will never discover any system of proportion in them.”) So practical are the details that readers might be tempted to experiment with the methods given here for their own amusement and curiosity.
Today artists are no longer interested in specific directions on keeping miniver tails from becoming moth-eaten. The Craftsman’s Handbook, in which these are ordinary parts of the artist’s work, appears quaint and naïve to us. And that is much of its charm. But when we remember the magnificent mosaics, paintings, and frescoes these methods produced, the book takes on an even greater value as a touchstone to another age.
“Recommended to the student of art.” — Craft Horizons.“Obviously of great merit.” — Art Material Trade News.“Delightful flavor.” — New York Herald Tribune.Recommended in Harvard List of Great Books on Art, Shaw’s List of Books for College Libraries.
Details
- THE CRAFTSMAN’S HANDBOOK
- TRANSLATED BY DANIEL V. THOMPSON, JR.
8. Color Mixing Recipes for Oil & Acrylic: Mixing recipes for more than 450 color combinations
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‘The popular Color Mixing Recipe Cards by William F. Powell has served as a handy reference of essential color combinations for almost 10 years. And now this collection of recipes is available in an updated, convenient format developed with your needs in mind! Conveniently packaged in a concealed wire-o-bound book that lies flat when opened, the recipe cards will always stay in order with no risk of getting lost. The book also includes a Color Mixing Grid—the perfect guide for accurately measuring paints. With mixing recipes for more than 450 color combinations, along with instruction in a variety of painting techniques, Color Mixing Recipes is a valuable and practical resource for both oil and acrylic artists
Details
- artist decision color paint mix chart accurate
9. Oil: the Ocean (How to Draw & Paint/Art Instruction Prog)
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Learn how to paint the ocean in all of its moods! In this how-to-paint book, Irene Lumgair invites you into her artistic world as she shows you how to re-create a variety of beautiful ocean paintings in oil. She explains her own approach to oil painting techniques as well as methods for creating special effects within a painting. As you explore her unique methods of developing a wet-into-wet painting, youÆll also learn how to create movement and action as you uncover important information about approaching different types of waves and perspectives. A wealth of beautiful ocean, wave, and seascape demonstrations make this book a welcome addition to any artistÆs library!
10. Oil & Acrylic: Oceans & Seascapes (How to Draw & Paint)
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Capture breathtaking oceanic scenes in oil and acrylic with Oceans & Seascapes. After being introduced to the basic tools and materials needed to begin painting, artists will learn specific techniques for painting realistic waves, rocky shores, and other seaside elements. Filled with step-by-step projects, this book is essential for any beginning artist who wants to paint beautiful oceans and seascapes.
