Customer Reviews

Landscape: A Comprehensive Guide to Drawing and Painting Nature

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

 

 

There is no doubt about it. This book is definetely comprehensive. It is also extremely well-organized and quite readible. I like the fact that the book can be used equally by a complete beginner or by an advanced painter. There is material to help a novice get started, yet the author (McDaniel) provides insightful guidance that will even help the experts.

The demonstrations of different techniques are direct and easily understood, with clear examples and superb artwork. It is enlightening to follow the process of creating paintings and seeing the artist use such a wide variety of materials and techniques.

The sections on composition and color are particularly informative, as is the discussion and helpful hints for painting on location and in the studio. He showed me a new way to see all the variety of shapes and color to be found in nature. The book is fun to read and has an easy, conversational style of writing that is relaxed, funnny and quite informative.

If you are interested in fine art in general, or landscape painting in particular, this book should be on your shelf.

I have painted "plein air" for a number of years, first in pastel and now moving into oils. I was very glad to find this book of Richard McDaniels, which I have been voraciously reading over the last couple of weeks. His palette and brush strokes really speak to me, and his colors SING with clarity and beauty. I appreciate the many samples of his work included in the book, which inspire me to delve deeper into my own compositions and experiment with varying colors. He writes with a knowledgeable, carefully-thought-out and well-articulated manner, and is often surprisingly humorous in his prose. I have learned much by coming across this book - for example, being reminded how to approach the laying out of values in beginning a painting. This is essential, and something many people do not grasp! His many samples showing the various stages of a painting are informational and helpful.
I have read the important "Carlsen's Guide to Landscape Painting" and Richard's book is a modern version of a classic- destined to become the Bible of Landscape Painting. We pay a modest sum for what we would've paid several hundred dollars for in a workshop, just by purchasing and reading this book. It is a must for any painter's personal library. Painting is a lifelong learning , and this book is many breaths of fresh air to help us along our way.

The best things about this book are the cover and frontis images. It covers everything about the rules of making art, but doesn't really inspire. Nothing in the text sings "Nature" to me, instead I felt that it had all been said before.