200 Great Painting Ideas for Artists (Hardcover)

by Carole Katchen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Inside this book, readers will find 200 imaginative suggestions from 56 artists, along with intriguing paintings--in watercolor, oil pastel, acrylic, and other popular media--that will jump-start their imaginations and lead them to fresh new subjects and a thrilling sense of creative adventure.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: North Light Books (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891347992
• ISBN-13: 978-0891347996
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #456,593 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful tips, May 16, 2000

By	gail jacobson (USA) - See all my reviews

This is a fabulous book. It helped me to see and want to paint the magic and beauty in ordinary objects. Katchen shows a wonderful selection of artist's works. This book is full of inspiring ideas for choosing and arranging objects and colors for delicious paintings.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful Book, February 20, 2004

By	anna vosburgh "annabrode2" (cambridge, md) - See all my reviews

I've owned this book for a couple of years now, and it has helped me many, many times. The "ideas" themselves are okay, but I love this book because of all the paintings. I have tried new techniques, design elements and subjects because I find something inspirational in a painting contained within the book. I browse through it often. The paintings are all very different, which is a plus, not just one style, subject or medium.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ho-Hum..., June 24, 2001

By	hamsterdance (TX) - See all my reviews

Sigh...I was rather disappointed with this book. I expected so much more from it than what was delivered. For a book that purports to give ideas for increasing originality in your own paintings it is surprisingly unoriginal.

You get suggestions such as "Add a Still Lake to Your Landscape", "Paint a Wild Animal", "Capture Animals in Their Natural Habitat", "Paint a Season of the Year" and "Paint an Arrangement of Dried Flowers", etc. etc. etc. I'm not kidding. This is what is passed on as expanding creative boundaries. It is filled to the brim with cliched themes that are supposed to help spark creativity and originality. Some suggestions begin to show promise but there were just too few overall. One of the good things about the book is that at least many of the paintings were beautiful (although boring in my opinion - victims of the cliches they were illustrating).

Which frankly leaves me baffled as to why it was felt to be neccessary to publish this book. Save your change and get books that showcase award winning paintings such as one of the "Best of" books for watercolors, oils, pastels, colored pencil or other media. You'll get plenty of inspired ideas from these type of books and a lot more original ideas for inspiration.