Customer Reviews

The Painted House

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The incredible work that Graham Rust has produced is not at all a dissapointment. However, he doesn't in the least try to show you how to acheive any of the effects he has created. I have been painting murals for a couple of years and have found it hard to find a resource for learning Trompe Loeil, which would be my passion. I would have greatly appreciated some help from someone I admire in this field. All in all a great portfolio for Graham Rust if you want to pay to see his work, but if looking for a learning tool, this is not it.

I just kinda stumbled upon this book and thought it was amazing. Rust displays murals for every type of room. As mentioned in some of the other reviews, this is not a "how-to" book per-se. But the reader can learn quite a lot from seeing how this master goes about his art. Everything you need to know is there except the actual rendering techniques. But he does explain how most of the murals were set up and designed. I highly recommend this book. Especially if you can find the hardcover. The softcover is a little too soft and I'm afraid its not the most durable book I've ever seen. But get it anyway and just be careful with the covers.

This artist is incredible and the book, print, designs, layout -- everything is top notch. I doubt I could ever reproduce such an incredible level of expertise (not exactly a how-to book) but I would buy again just for the sheer pleasure and inspiration!

This is a very pretty book to look at and the skills of the author are outstanding. However, I personally find most of the designs a bit heavy and over-complicated, but I think that's just a matter of taste. You might get inspired by these decorations if you live in (or if you are going to paint) a good size manor, church, public building or a large home. The author's specialty obviously is detailed painting of botanical or zoological objects. For example, his painting of a cabbage is really photo-like, but who is going to paint a cabbage in his/her house? A lot of designs in this book include detailed paintings of animals, like dogs, birds, fish, lobsters even cheetah, lizard or monkey. That makes the designs really interesting, but very hard to get inspired by, unless you are a very skilled and experienced artist. But I find some inspiration and new information in every book, so I'm not dissapointed with my purchase. This book is at least an extensive record of some amazing art work.

As a professional mural painter, I've found "The Painted House", by Graham Rust, to be an excellent idea source book. In fact, it's the best I've found to date. The illustrations are not only imaginative, but extremely rich in detail. My only complaint would be that at times he shows the original sketch without showing the finished product. Otherwise, I've found the book to be extremely helpful and I'm ready for Vol. 2.

I bought this book and G. Rust's, "Decorative Design's" about a year or more ago. In my opinion, his work ranks with the classics. As an art professional for more than twenty years who specializes in trompe l'oeil murals, I am amazed that there is someone like Rust actually living, breathing and still walking the earth.

This is a truly beautiful book with lots of inspiration for all the do-it-yourselfers out there. It is not though at a level that anyone who is not a professional could even begin to do. The paintings are so beautiful and so detailed that it will delight anyone looking at it!

I am a decorative artist, and I found this book to be really helpful when looking for inspiration,or looking up some new themes, fresh ideas.If You are a beginner looking for a step by step guide, don't bother,it won't help.However, it WILL make You want to paint, because it is just so beautiful, it makes You want to grab Your brush and paint all over the place. I also found this useful to show it to clients who want a mural, but are not sure about a theme.

This book is full of beautiful paintings and ideas. The author gives you layout examples so you could literally paint your whole house, or at the very least all 4 walls of a room. Some of the examples are things like: being in an Arabian tent with one flap rolled back to reveal a beautiful desertscape; an indoor swimming pool circled with mythological creatures; draped fabric on all the walls, etc. There are many more, and they're simply breathtaking. The author has painted murals inside museums in Europe, so you know the quality is there. There are oodles of color photos here, and while this isn't a full blown step-by-step book, with 1,2,3 pictures, it gets 4 stars because of it's incredible diversity of mural use, from small to large, and the inspiration that comes from it. I wish it were a little less costly, but it is a nice book with quality paper stock and binding. I know I will refer to it when I start my mural project. If it had more of a beginner's feel, I'd have given it 5 stars.

The murals in this book are beautiful, fantastical, grand and WAY above my abilities. :-) I enjoyed this book because of the possibilities and the ideas it fostered versus my ability (or inability) to mimic the designs. I've been looking for a book that addresses how to incorporate doors into murals and this is the first one that I've come across that showed some ideas.

Obviously, this author and muralist is a VERY experienced painter (note his mural interpretation of the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe nursery rhyme - pg 82). Many of the murals depicted would be something expected in a museum, hotel or grandiose mansion. In fact, if you look in the back of the book you will notice that many of them are from private collections and the Marquess and Marchioness of Hertford.

The Painted House does not contain much info on techniques or step-by-step instructions. It is more of an idea book to open your mind to possibilities. I do think some of the less complex designs could be adapted to smaller spaces with some creative thinking.

If you want inspiring mural designs to paint, this book is probably only for the very experienced or talented artist. If you are a creative beginner, it's a good resource for ideas to stimulate projects on your own artistic level.