Painting from the Inside Out: 19 Projects and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit [Hardcover]

Betsy Dillard Stroud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

Artists can sometimes feel as though they're in a creative rut. With Painting from the Inside Out, readers will use fun and inspiring exercises to break out of that rut and create exciting, innovative paintings every time they pick up a brush. Each chapter highlights a particular aspect of creative painting such as "Zen painting" warm-ups, abstract landscape exercises, and projects that combine more than one medium. Each new lesson helps readers think about art in new and imaginative ways, then render such imaginings with a variety of useful techniques.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Stroud brings years of one-woman shows, awards, and published articles to this inspiring book on pushing boundaries and exploring creative expression. She provides 19 projects and exercises for loosening up, improvising paintings, and combining media. The exercises explore texture, floral design, self-portrait, and still life in a semi-abstract, semi-representational style. Stroud references philosophical traditions like Zen, but the emphasis is on freeing up one's art. Williams's Creative Utopia, on the other hand, takes the designer or illustrator much further into the realm of the creative subconscious. Williams uses yoga, aromatherapy, feng shui, meditation, and the Tibetan mandala to achieve mental clarity and creative energy. Whether these methods can work for everyone, as the author contends, is up for debate. They have certainly worked for Williams, whose art design group has won hundreds of awards. Stroud's book is highly recommended for general collections as the next logical step after Nick and Diane Meglin's Drawing from Within: Unleashing Your Creative Potential, a humorous yet meaty book for neophytes. Williams's book may be a little too mystical for those suspicious of promises of "utopia" and "total creativity." Jeanne Carbonetti's The Zen of Creative Painting: An Elegant Design for Revealing Your Muse approaches the same territory in a more earthbound fashion.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Betsy Dillard Stroud has written for American Artist, Southwest Art, Watercolor, and Watercolor Magic magazines. Her artwork has been displayed in over 140 state, regional and national shows.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 143 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158180122X
• ISBN-13: 978-1581801224
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I ride the twin, turbulent steeds of painting and writing. I am a born Virginian living now in Arizona under the shadow of the hawk. I teach national workshops on painting; I lecture; I write for magazines and for myself, and I have judged over fifty international, national, state, and regional exhibitions. I am completing a book I began twenty years ago, and have three published books to my credit. My first book was written under my maiden name, Elizabeth Nash Dillard and was about my finest mentor....Colonel Herbert Nash Dillard, Jr., also my uncle and my father (another story.) As a former art historian, with a proper distrust of labels, I call myself a realistic, abstract, expressionistic, impressionistic painter, who uses color and symbolism as major means of expression in my work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical creativity exercises - much more complex., August 11, 2004

By 

Andrea Acailawen (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting from the Inside Out: 19 Projects and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit (Hardcover)

In a nutshell, this book offers many very bold, complex styles of artistic expression very well suited to the artist interested in exploring abstract or expressionistic painting styles. It was not, however, the "free your creativity" warm-up or free-flowing, brain-starting style of book that I thought it was (from other reviews I had read), and may not be useful for every style of artist.

I discovered that much of "Painting from the inside out" was not well suited to my artistic style or personal needs, after I bought the book. While I found Chapter 5 - "Transparent beginnings, opaque endings," and Chapter 6 - "Say it with flowers," offered material to suit my tastes, the level of the techniques offered in these particular chapters was nothing new to me.

The rest of the book seemed much more geared toward abstract art that did not suit my tastes. Moreover, these sections were too methodical or complicated to be free-flowing and spontaneous enough for creative warm-up exercises, either. But, this book definitely has its audience. It is well written, lively and the author's tone is friendly and inviting. I have given it four stars for this reason. Hey, just because a book doesn't suit my styles or needs doesn't mean it isn't well suited to someone else's.

So, to help you determine if this is the right type of book to suit *your* needs, goals, and artistic vision, here is a little more info on its contents:

1) It covers a variety of different media, including watercolor, acrylic and gouache, stamping, collage, scraping, intense pouring and splattering methods, and other very bold techniques best suited to multi-media use, and is definitely not for the faint of heart.

2) Quite a few of the techniques are very involved and time consuming. If you want to explore new, BOLD styles of visual expression, this book may be for you. If you are looking for warm-ups or quick-flowing techniques to give your creativity a kick-start, the exercises covered in this book are not terribly useful. In fact, these exercises are mostly full painting projects, some which take quite some time, and a good deal of involvement to accomplish.

3) While the author does cover some basic techniques and theories that apply to every medium and style, the bulk of this bulk is really geared toward a few specific exploratory styles. Whether this information will be of use to you will depend very heavily upon what your goals and needs are, how "bold" you want your painting to be, and how much time you have to invest.

I would highly recommend taking a look through this book before buying it, to make sure it meets your needs. If that is not possible, you might want to look up the artist's work online. Keep in mind, however, that while her floral paintings (which you mostly see online) are lovely, they only comprise a small portion of this book. Most of the exercises in this book are representative of her more abstract works. If the latter, more abstract style really interests you, then by all means, give this book a go. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

If you're looking for more free-flowing, unplanned, Zen-style creativity boosting techniques and warm-ups using water-based media, I highly recommend "Watercolor: painting outside the lines - a positive approach to negative space," by Linda Kemp.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grab Your Brushes!, July 20, 2002

By 

Mary Beam (Cosby, Tennessee United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting from the Inside Out: 19 Projects and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit (Hardcover)

Painting From The Inside Out: 19 Projects and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit. by Betsy Dillard Stroud.

Run! Grab your paint brushes and get ready for an adventure in creating. Stroud takes you up and down, in and out on an eye-boggling excursion into a realm of discovery. From zen and ignota to swashbuckling freestyle with Picasso she guides the willing participant through various channels to your inner being. While there she nutures and instructs you through her knowledge of art history and years of practice in art to find a painterly mode of expression for your thoughts and feelings. This book teaches, illustrates and inspires you to let go and enjoy the wonder and esthetics of the painting experience. It employs techniques in layering, stamping, pouring, resists, lifting etc. to free you for your creative endeavors. Stroud has found herself in her love of dramatic color, energetic design and daring freedom of imagination.
: Mary Todd Beam AWS. DF.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Art Book I've Ever Read and Really Used, October 13, 2002

By 

Kay Thomas (Carefree, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting from the Inside Out: 19 Projects and Exercises to Free Your Creative Spirit (Hardcover)

If you want an exciting and adventurous read, get this book. It turns you on aesthetically as well as giving you a strong dose of artistic guidance, incorporating wisdom in a special spiritual way.
It has tremendous humor with well written and direct instructions in the "how-tos," and yet, at the same time, it encourages you to be an adventurer and to create your own way of expressing yourself in paint. Although there are basic rules, it transcends mere technique and allows you the freedom to follow your own path. I love this book!