Customer Reviews

Classic Still Life Painting: A Contemporary Master Shows How to Achieve Old Master Effects Using Today's Art Materials

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've spent a lot of time at book stores paging through books to find one that had actual tutorials for the beginning oil painter. Most were either books that talked about types of brushes, mediums, techniques, etc. without any actual demonstrating, or they were more theory or about composition. While those more advanced ideas are crucial to creating good paintings, as a beginner, I was looking for a book that would get me started actually painting. Something to give me a feel for what the techniques are, and not just describing them.

This book covers everything from the color palette and preparing your surface, to the actual steps the author uses during the painting process. The text is not too wordy, but is in depth enough to give a clear understanding of what you are doing and why.

If you'd like to learn to paint with layers and glazes, this is a perfect starter book.

This book is for anyone wanting to learn step by step how to paint with oils. Written with the beginner in mind, there is still plenty of information for the more experienced painter. Must have for any painting library.

Don't listen to anyone dissapointed with this book. It's a great book for both beginners and more advanced artists. it has lots of demos and explanations. You just need to have patience to read those! I'm a more advanced artist ([...]) but I still find this book to be a high priority in my library of art books. I recommend it to my students because there is a wealth of useful information there. The artist focuses on painting still life only. there are no landscapes or people in here BUT still life is the easiest subject to paint and it's also infinite. You can rearrange the same things tons of time and paint those again. Jane gives you steps to follow to make a very realistic painting but it's up to you to have the patience to follow her advice.

This book is exceptionally well thought out with detailed information on every aspect of Jane Jones' painting process. She thoroughly describes every step in the creation of her paintings, beginning with materials, setting up a still life, glazing technique, etc. She also includes her thoughts about the process, describing WHY she makes the choices she does. As a former watercolor artist trying to make the change to oils, I found this book invaluable. Jane Jones is not only a wonderful artist, she is a wonderful writer/teacher.

Judy Jones (no relation)

There are many exercises to do in this book and sometimes I just want to get on with it. But if you have patience this book will help you a lot.

I switched from Acrylics to Oils. However, I am entirely offended by this work, from the cover to the preface. She loves oils. Yippie. She loves still life. Hurray. She feels absolutely confident in her way of doing things. If Jane could have expressed her love and confidence with joy of her craft, without being condesending, egotistical and excessively mid-western in her approach, I could have enjoyed the reading and felt better about art as a contribution to society.
In the preface, Jane immediately draws battle-lines between HER choice of medium and what equates to 'those inferior, silly, garbage-can-worthy acrylics and water-color. You know. The stuff which is only meant for gesso and nothing more?! I never blamed MY failure in producing realism with acrylics on the medium. Brian LaSaga of Canada is one of the world's greatest TRUE realism artists, painting realism far more convincing than anything in this book, and he does it with acrylics. Maurice Harvey, Brian McCracken...oh my god, the list is over a thousand long. Then, the watercolorists, another thousand.
"I LOVE to buy new paints," Jane proclaims and demonstrates a palette of around THIRTY! She's nutty for brushes, too! Every successful, world-renoun educator of painting inspires students with the use of a limited palette (and why) and no more than four brushes (and why). Jane makes it sound like, if you got the money, honey, the world is your oyster! Snobbish to the point of not merely stating, "Naphtol Red" or "Quinacridone Coral" (who paints with that color, anyway?) but, label-queening out every brand! I couldn't tell whether I was reading to learn to paint or watching Project Runway!
Jane Jones is a world-class artist! Jane Jones truly understands art and the application of paint. She's a grand colorist. Of these, there is NO doubt. Her flowers look thick, as if painted from silk plants but, her representation of glass is absolutely AMAZING!

This is the book that you were hoping to find to learn how to integrate "old master" techniques into amazing still life! It is packed with beautiful, quality illustrations of the artist's beautiful work! I love this book and recommend it to anyone interested in creating amazing depth and detail using traditional glazing techniques with today's mediums and materials in oils. I love this book!

I'd recommend this book to oil painters who love to glaze and make huge numbers of color swatches. It's for the highly organized and detail oriented painter.

The information in this book showed another interesting way to paint. I have adopted some of this author's methods for CERTAIN areas of my paintings... with great results. Good photographs, coherent explanations.

I am learning exactly what I wanted to know about traditional painting from Jane's easy to follow instructions. The book is beautifully printed and full of important information. One of the best books I've bought.