Customer Reviews

Mastering Color

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you love color and are ready to take your painting to the next level, this is the book for you! I just received Ms. McMurry's masterpiece a few days ago and was so pleasantly surprised. Please do not listen to the ONE negative review - (I almost did and am so glad I went with my intuition instead...) this wonderful treat is as gorgeous on each page as the cover promises. If you are touched by the passionate painting on the cover as I was, you will love the book. Not only is it a visual feast, but Ms. Mcmurry takes us inside her knowledge and discoveries of a painter. She is like a friend sharing her secrets.

Even just flipping through the pages I have picked up many new tips (and I've been painting all my life...) and can't wait to read the whole book cover to cover. In addition to the great insights and instruction, I find the best way to learn from great artists is to just "absorb" the paintings and let them affect you a on a deep level- each of Vicky's paintings is like a "transmission" of color mastery.

Even though this may not be the perfect book for a complete beginner (the title is "MASTERING Color" afterall...), I believe that painters of all levels (and art lovers...) will greatly benefit from this treasure.

And by the way, I have never met Ms. Mcmurry (although I'd love to study with her...) and didn't even know about her until a few days ago. I just love her book and art, and find it sad that beacuse of one bad review many folks might be missing out on it. If you enjoy this book, please write a little note to let folks know.
Happy Painting!

This book really has annoyed me. I knew nothing about using color in oil paintings, and I still know nothing after reading it:
1) The book is basically a series of pictures of this artist's paintings (one or two per page), with really little comments near them. The pages are really empty: small pictures with little text.
2) Sometimes the author speaks about techniques (i.e. direct or indirect painting)
and after reading the text I still don't understand what is she talking about.
3) There are also a lot of trivial explanations (like that of primary, secondary colors, etc.) that it seems a joke dedicating a lot of space to them.
4) The paintings are almost all beautiful, but it is not worthwhile buying the book just to see the illustrations.
5) The most of the explanations sound to me like: "I thought I could use red here, and I did it. I like the result because it reflects the emotions I had when I was
painting. You must do what you find right". Do I have to extract a knowledge from that?

After reading the book I thought the author made an effort to avoid good explanations. Perhaps this book is not intended for beginners like me, but I think it is a bad book for everyone. She seems a good painter, but this book tells me she is not a good teacher.

Sorry for the comparison (because they seem to follow different goals), but "Painting the Impressionist Landscape" from Lois Griffel is infinitely better than this one
from Mcmurry. I never regreted buying Griffel's.

You are warned: don't let a good cover mislead you.

I though it would be very deep into color theory, on how to get accurate
tonal and saturation value, but in fact it's very light, and doesnt really add anything new that havent been written in others books about color theory. The presentation is impeccable which make it a nice book to own. But if I had seen this book in a librairy before buying it, I would not have bought it.

This is a very informative book. The artist shared lots of information in a very understandable way. The book is well organized. The paintings of the author help illustrate the information. I teach oil painting and think the author got her information across quite well. I refer to the book often because of the authors very up beat love of painting. I think, however, that the editor should have done a better job in sorting out some of the writing.

I liked Ms. McMurry's approach with how she both wrote the book and what she decided to share in regards to her knowledge with oils. I would really give this book 4 and a half stars because in order to be a five star it would have to include even more info, however the book is well-printed, the examples excellent and it includes lots of photographic information along with the written descriptions. One of the better oil painting books out there. I wasn't disappointed.

I am really pleased that I have purchased this book, as it has given me an insight as to what colors to use in my paintings. I have been painting for years and I now feel more confident in choosing color range - thank you Mastering Color. The book is also very well explained.

I just got this book and I too am glad I did not pay attention to the ONE negative review.... I know, everybody has the liberty of saying what they think, but I was truly surprised and inspired once I opened this book! I cannot wait to finish reading it and putting into practice its tips! Thank you Vicki Mcmurry!

Although I have several years of painting experience the color mixes illustrated gave me new ways of using color and from this my work has become more sparkling.

great book-like the explaination on all the color schemes. very easy to understand and refer to when doing color studies.

I am a beginning artist. This book is my favorite. It is concise and easy to use. I love impressionist style and this book is very much fun and informative.