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Keys to Successful Color : A Guide for Landscape Painters in Oil

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This is a problem/solution book discussing 49 keys to using color more wisely. It utilizes 26 paintings, comparing a common approach to painting a scene with an approach making better use of color. The book has 80 pages with color plates, some pages have multiple plates, and 20 B&W. Most paintings illustrated in the discussions are smaller, simpler paintings or pieces of paintings so the points are easier to follow.

There are newer, more contemporary books on using color in landscapes which illustrate similar points but few offer as many distinct and easily digested ones.

I've always told aspiring landsape artists that there are 2 essential books and one almost essential. They would be Kessler and Carlson's books and my "almost choice" has always been Foster Caddell's - Keys to Landscape Painting. This book is very similar to that book with more of an emphasis on color choices. It may now go on my list of very practical books to own. Foster is a real master of traditional painting. There is a lot of good things in this book other that color. It has the same practical examples of painting "bad" and painting "good" as his first book. There is plenty to learn including technique, planning, design and edges. Much like his first book, this can save a young painter miles of canvas in the effort to get work to a professional level.