Customer Reviews

Discover the Joy of Acrylic Painting

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

 

 

I own approximately 40 painting books, and I'll have to say this is one of the best. The illustrated paintings are just beautiful. Penney seems to emphasize beach scenes, gardens, and flowers. There are demonstrations that actually give you the exact steps and process. With her "Still, Reflective Water" beach scene there are 13 illustratons, as she progresses to the finished painting. I paid full price through North Light, and I am very pleased with this book.

I was expecting a little bit more detailed instruction. This book leaves a beginner(at least this one)a little bit at sea.

This book contains many beautiful paintings, but they do not include instructions on how to complete them. They are included to showcase the artist. This is fine - it makes a nice book to browse, but it leaves the student frustrated. I wanted to know how to paint the picture on the front, the garden of flowers, the pretty bay, but the instructions mostly covered beaches, grass, sea, and boats. OK, but similar in content. Ms. Penney is a very enthusiastic tutor (as I review for her later book about painting beaches), she encourages experimentation. She also feels that the finished painting is not what matters, but the journey taken. But I was left wanting more, much more.

I am a fairly new painter and have only used oils. I am looking forward to learning to use acrylics after looking at this book. It has so many terrific hints on how to do and is easy to follow. The best book on painting of any kind I have seen.

I had hoped this would be in the style of her "Painting Greeting Cards in Watercolor" book, but it isn't.

While it is interesting that she compares oil vs. acrylic, she neglects to do the same for watercolor vs. acrylic. Thinned out with water, acrylic can be used just like watercolor (in transparent fashion), yet be permanent and fade-resistant. Also, whereas with watercolor you typically paint light colors first and dark colors later, with acrylic, you can just paint right over what you just painted, with no show-through. Neither advantage is mentioned in this book.

I agree with a previous reviewer that for a beginner, this book does not provide very clear instruction--if you're just beginning acrylics, you'd do much better watching any Sue Scheewe show (carried on many PBS stations).

This book is not bad, but not nearly as good as her watercolor book. I'm glad I bought it used.