Inventing the Landscape: From Plein Air Study to Studio Painting (Hardcover)

by Richard Crozier (Author), Thomas Bolt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This volume traces Richard Crozier's approach to landscape portraiture. It provides analyses of perception and landscape construction and colour, gives a description of the way atmosphere, light and seasonal changes affect the landscape, and explains how to approach painting at close range. Crozier then provides a personal visual travelogue which takes him on a painting journey across the United States, from the tropical greenery of Hawaii to the rocky coastline of Maine. The book concludes by covering elements of the studio, which include colour interpretation, comparisons of formal and informal painting decisions, painting as a metaphor, abstraction of space and realism.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823025470
• ISBN-13: 978-0823025473
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #980,638 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A serious book for serious painters., July 11, 2003

By	John H. MacDonald (Williamstown, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This book really isn't for "Sunday painters" or beginners. There's very little on technique and not a single trick for churning out cute landscapes. What it offers is image after image of suberbly crafted landscapes, images worth studying again and again. His handling of values, and the subtle variations of hue, temperature, and intensity within each value shape, are absolutely masterful. Clearly, he practices what he preaches: landscapes which blend artistic invention with an acute observation of what exists in the landscape. There's not a lot of text in this book, but like his landscapes, what he writes is succinct, intelligent, and well worth taking to heart. As I become a better painter, this book offers more valuable instruction, not less.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for any landscape painter, February 15, 2004

By	Drema R. Apperson (Fredericksburg, VA United States) - See all my reviews

I am a Virginia landscape painter and have kept this book close at hand in my studio for many years. While I do not paint like Richard, I nonetheless pull this book out out several times a month, for inspiration or information or just to look at how he has handled various problems of light and color. As noted in another review, this is not a step-by-step book, but rather a beautiful record of the process of one dedicated painter that will inspire and encourage.