Customer Reviews

Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed-Media Artists: Experimental Techniques for Composition, Layering, Texture, Imagery, and Encaustic

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An exceptionally well done book. The author goes into great detail of her techniques and processes that she uses to create amazingly beautiful works of art. Easy to read, follow and understand the writing is clear and engaging. The photography is wonderful and you'll appreciate not only the full page views of Ann's work but also the detail shots will do a terrific job of capturing the texture in the pieces. It's impossible not to be inspired by the images in this book. Highly recommended!

I am not one to write reviews often - especially on books about art technique, mainly because I am beyond disappointed. HOWEVER, this book, by someone whose website I have visited often, exceeds my expectations.

I am a mixed media artist, self taught, but am always looking to grow my background, to integrate it, to add depth, to make the background work for my piece, and good information is hard to come by. This book gives great examples and instruction, WITHOUT leaving out any steps - which is a real problem with a lot of instructional books by artists. Ann even provides photos of a piece in process (very insightful and reassuring).

There are exercises as well, and Ann provides the colors needed. You will notice that all of the products mentioned are Golden - and Ann is a Golden Working Artist, lucky dog! But you can make do, or experiment, with your own supply of paints. The exercises are more about how color works together to add depth and interest, contrast, etc, than a specific palette.

Best of all, she keeps the language conversational and real. You feel like you could be in a workshop with a friend instead of reading a book. There are wonderful tips and techniques that any artist could adopt (and alter) to enhance their own style. This is how 'how to' art books should be written. Nothing pompous and dry about this book. Just actual useful information, and lots of it. This book is rich with lots of full color photos AND text. Each spread has multiple photographs of work and a lot of information. This book is for artists to use, it is not a vanity book for the author.

I recommend it to anyone working with acrylics - from beginner to an old codger of an artist. I would give it ten stars if Amazon had them!

Ann is a most impressive artist and communicator. After one day in a workshop with her, I left with skills and excitement I never expected to have. Now it's simply amazing what she has worked into the 144 pages of this fabulous book ... a wide range of beginner to more advanced techniques ... all approachable with dramatic effect. Included are gorgeous pictures complete with the basics of art and painting, the steps involved, tips, materials and other resources. It's chock full of samples that illustrate her evolving collage and mixed media styles, techniques and sophistication as seen in the works on her website ... all done in a most pleasing, uncluttered format. I love the classy hardbound cover with spiral binding inside allowing it to lie flat for easy reference while working. This makes an excellent reference work and/or gift for aspiring and more experienced collage/mixed media artists.

I attended a workshop with Ann a couple of years ago. She was a wonderful teacher, very sharing with her ideas and information. This book is much the same, a pleasure to read and full of inspiration.
She takes the reader through experiments with texture and layering paints and images, and she also has chapters on encaustic materials and using digital photographs in mixed media work. Every chapter has a project section showing exactly how she uses the techniques discussed. I appreciated having the book in a wire bound format which will make it very easy to refer to while one is working.

Lately we have seen a plethora of books regarding different aspects of the mixed media world. Unfortunately, they have begun to all look the same. So many of them are lovely eye candy without much substance. This book is different. If you have ever been fortunate enough to take a workshop with Ann Baldwin, you will easily recognize the experience created within this books' covers. I really did feel like I was back in the classroom with Ann. Her directions are clear and logical; but best of all they create a unique experience in mixed media. Ann begins by explaining the basics and continues to build on these basics throughout the book. By the end of this book you will feel like you have just finished a semester long class in art school. But this is better than that because you can open it and review over and over. I would strongly recommend this book to people at all skill levels. It is definitely a book that is worth having on your shelf. It is one you will open over and over again.

I have been a fan of Ann Baldwin's art for many years. I drove 6 hours (one way)to take a weekend workshop with her many years ago. Now, with Creative Paint Workshop, Ann brings all of her talent and techniques right to you. Having first hand experience with her in the classroom, I can attest that this book is almost as good as being there - I say almost because the only thing you miss is her calm, assuring teaching presence. But honestly, I think even that comes through in this book.

The writing and presentation of art techniques and information is clear and straightforward. She takes the mystery and confusion out of products and process. Gorgeous full color photographs of her art (many showing the steps she uses to create them) present easy-to-understand examples, providing inspiration for experienced artists, or step-by-step examples for a beginner to follow.

My first reaction upon opening the book was, "Yes! a spiral binding," making it all the easier to use as a tool to expand your painting and collage repetoire.

Lesley Riley, author of:
Fabulous Fabric Art with Lutradur(r): For Quilting, Papercrafts, Mixed Media Art 27 Techniques & 14 Projects Revolutionize Your Craft Experience!

this book makes a clear path for anyone wanting to
learn to layer with confidence. i've always found it
a mystery to try and guess how a mixed media artist
was accomplishing that glorious layering of color and
design. with this workshop book, it all seemed to make
sense and be very accessible!

This one wants to be an instruction book of collage painting techniques, yet is limited by the personal preferences of the author. For example, she uses only acrylic matte medium as her *glue* in all examples until the encaustic section(which I have not yet read). Most artists use gloss medium to glue collage elements, since matte medium contains little white beads of acrylic that make it matte. Those little white beads do not assist in the gluing process, so matte acrylic medium seems an odd preference. She mentions gloss medium as causing paints and inks to bead. That's true, but if you glue the back of a collage element with gloss medium beading is not an issue, and besides, a glaze with matte medium will solve the problem of beading in subsequent layers. Also, gelatin may work better as an adhesive with light-weight papers especially, and a good choice to start off a collage painting to reduce the weight of build-up, but the author uses only matte acrylic medium in repetitious examples of her approach for the first 50 pages of this 146 page book, basically painting the same painting over and over, peppered with a few new tid bits of information.
It is a pet peeve of mine for an artist to write a book demonstrating how they use a certain 6 colors and how they always begin with with color A , then use color B (as this author does), to demonstrate mastery. Yes, artists hope to get into creating a series, yet is this truly a series or has the author found a few colors and layers that work for her and so repeats them with slight variations? She also uses one elementary rule for her compositions rather than experiment and explore and grow. I know nothing of this artist and perhaps this is just where she is at right now. I think this book is for beginners. But even beginner should be exposed to more variety (as discussed above).

Having been to more than one of this author's workshops has
been no accident for me. She is a gifted teacher and shares
well the techniques that make her work so compelling. This
book has glorious pictures and a binding which i would
like to see on other studio books that allows it to lie flat.
Much of Ann's clarity (and delightful personality) have been
captured here and I see it as a real teaching tool.
.

If mixed media and collage artwork is your thing, this is the best of the best. It includes several chapters on composition as well as numerous techniques for texture. It showcases Baldwin's artwork, which is wonderful, but I would have liked some examples of other people's work as well. Nevertheless, this is a luscious book which I'll be referring to over and over again.