Painting with Your Artist's Brain: Learn to Paint What You See - Not What You Think You See [Hardcover]

Carl Purcell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2004

In order to effectively communicate the artist's spirit in our paintings, it is important that we listen carefully to what Carl Purcell calls our intuitive "visual brain". His decidedly clear and easy-to-understand illustrations bring out the visual aspects of painting immediately, but bring more pleasure into the painting process. His bulleted lists, side bars, end-of-chapter summaries and instruction in between help you to understand the design process and how to use it to develop paintings that grab the eye and the heart as well. Artists will learn to boost their brainpower and exile the "enemy within". They'll learn to trust what they see, not what they think they see and paint with their visual brain!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Carl Purcell is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society. He is a popular watercolour workshop instructor, having conducted workshops for various art organisations. He has been published in the Splash series.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 127 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581803974
• ISBN-13: 978-1581803976
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book on how to see., June 9, 2004

By 

SZEWC (IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Painting with Your Artist's Brain: Learn to Paint What You See - Not What You Think You See (Hardcover)

This book is very effective in teaching the artist or beginner to see in the language of art, which is shape, color and edge. The medium used in the book is watercolor. The approach to technique is simplified to the essentials to get going in water color, but any medium would apply. I enjoyed the simple approach. The author was a teacher and I'm sure a good one at that. The book wasn't bogged down with unnecessary "how to" stuff. Each chapter covers another aespect of seeing with very understandable text and examples. I found this book to be a good example of how to transulate all that stuff out there into the language of art. If that is what you want to do I recommend it. If on the other hand you wish to spend you time at the art supply store trying all the hundreds of supplies and techniques and not seeing and painting than this book is not for you.
For me the only week part of the book was the last two chapters, but then I've been painting for 25 years.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best!, January 28, 2005

By 

Judith "Artzy One" (Prescott, AZ, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Painting with Your Artist's Brain: Learn to Paint What You See - Not What You Think You See (Hardcover)

Besides being an excellent overview of watercolor techniques helpful to the experienced as well as the novice, this book provides valuable guidance for enhacing the "seeing" skills we need for being better artists, no matter what medium is used. Purcell's book is among my favorites and I refer to it frequently.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the better watercolor books I've bought..., December 1, 2007

By 

Michael A. Thomas (CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Painting with Your Artist's Brain: Learn to Paint What You See - Not What You Think You See (Hardcover)

...and I've bought a lot of them! There are some similar ideas in this book to the those in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, but this book is all watercolor-specific and boiled down to pack in the maximum information. I like Mr. Purcell's style, as well, which is always a bonus. I found that it inspired me to work harder, and few books can do that. I highly recommend it.