Seeing the Light: An Artist's Guide [Hardcover]

Betty Carr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

This successful artist shares her time-tested secrets for capturing the awe-inspiring qualities of light on canvas. Whether readers paint in their kitchens or backyards, they'll learn how to use light to create depth, form, mood and atmosphere.

Artists of all levels will master light with:
*Exercises in watercolor and oils
*12 complete step-by-step demonstrations
*Close-up painting details
*Keys for "seeing" light and true color

The wide variety of innovative techniques and exercises makes it easy to understand this often confusing topic. Every reader will come away with the ability to harness the power of light!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

How can light create the illusions of depth on a 2-dimensional plane? How does rendering the subtleties of light suggest all-important mood and atmosphere in a painting? Well-known artist Carr provides a lavishly illustrated, step-by-step guide starting with, appropriately, learning to see. "Think like a sculptor," she advises, simplifying forms into their basic 3-dimensional shapes enveloped by various kinds of light. When progressing to color, she emphasizes focusing the center of interest by using contrasting values to route the viewer's eye by following the light. Using different lighting situations as full-color examples, she demonstrates refraction, gradation, and more, then analyzes compositional elements before even beginning the brushwork. Exercises using identical subjects compare and contrast the uses of watercolors and oils. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Award-winning artist Betty Carr has taught workshops across the country and abroad. She is a lifetime member of the exclusive Knickerbocker Association of New York City, and her work has appeared in The Artist's Magazine, American Artist and Southwest Art.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books; 1 edition (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581803427
• ISBN-13: 978-1581803426
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #577,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good information, January 24, 2007

By 

Art Student (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seeing the Light: An Artist's Guide (Hardcover)

I liked her examples. It was nice to see the examples in watercolor as well as oil. Clear instructions and an easy read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars watercolor glory, January 30, 2009

By 

V. Healey "artist vaun" (Patterson, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Seeing the Light: An Artist's Guide (Hardcover)

I had taken a class with this author which was instruction as its best. The book is great. If you want to learn how to--this will help paint the light

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seeing the Light: An Artist's Guide, January 6, 2007

By 

Janice Nelson "Lover of the Written Word" (Silverton, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seeing the Light: An Artist's Guide (Hardcover)

Very pleasurable visually with bright colors and stunning use of white to indicate light. I can never seem to pull this off and look forward to trying to recreate some of the paintings to see if I can achieve success.
Janice Lawson - Montana