The Landscape Painter's Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color

The Landscape Painters Workbook is a comprehensive guide to landscape painting techniques, featuring step-by-step instructions, color strategies, composition, and workshop exercises. Written by celebrated landscape artist Mitchell Albala, it includes examples of work by 45 contemporary painters and is suitable for artists of all skill levels.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 01 February 2022
Publisher: Rockport Publishers Inc.

The Landscape Painters Workbook is a comprehensive and invaluable guide to the art of landscape painting, offering a deep dive into the timeless techniques and essential elements that have shaped this genre for centuries. Authored by celebrated landscape artist, instructor, and author Mitchell Albala, this richly informative and beautifully illustrated volume takes readers step by step through his approach to landscape painting, covering everything from establishing a composition using basic shapes to applying time-tested color strategies.

In addition to its comprehensive coverage, The Landscape Painters Workbook includes a range of special topics that will deepen artists' understanding and mastery of the craft. These include:

The Complete Color Strategy: This chapter delves into the three aspects of color contrast that guide a painting's strategy, including value, saturation, and temperature. It explores how these elements work together to create depth, mood, and visual interest in a painting.

Notan: Notan is a special type of compositional study that identifies the underlying shapes and patterns of a composition. It helps artists understand the underlying structure of a scene and how to use it to create a more balanced and harmonious composition.

Picture Formats: This chapter examines how the picture format, whether horizontal, vertical, or square, affects the composition. It explores the pros and cons of each format and how artists can use them to their advantage to create a more dynamic and visually engaging painting.

Color Grouping: This full chapter details the special practice of color grouping, which helps maintain harmony by organizing colors into a limited number of groups. It explores how this practice can create a sense of cohesion and balance in a painting.

Composition: This in-depth review of variation, movement, and active negative space delves into the principles of creating a dynamic and engaging composition. It includes illustrations that diagram the action in each example, helping readers understand how to create movement and tension in their paintings.

Workshop Exercises: Instead of demonstrations that show how the author paints, The Landscape Painters Workbook includes 10 skill-building workshop exercises to help readers work through essential lessons on their own. These exercises are designed to reinforce the concepts covered in the book and to encourage readers to apply their knowledge and skills in a practical setting.

With examples of work by 45 contemporary landscape painters—more than 80 paintings in all—in oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor, the lessons in The Landscape Painters Workbook are suitable for all mediums. Each painting is thoroughly analyzed in terms of shape, composition, or color, with supporting diagrams, thumbnails, and photographs. The book inspires and informs all artists, whether they are beginners or experienced painters, and provides a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for their artistic journey.

Weight: 758g
Dimension: 217 x 280 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780760371350