02/28/2004: "Investigating books on classical painting techniques"

One of the nice things about working in a library is access to all the great books. Particularly all the great art books. If we don't have a particular volume in our collection, I can always borrow it for free from another library. This afternoon I started investigating books on painting techniques used by the "masters" (ignore the blatant sexism there).

If anyone has a favorite book, either about classical painting techniques or on any other aspect of oil painting that they could recommend I'd really appreciate it.

Even though I studied oil painting in art school (and have been studying on my own for most of my life) I've never really been taught classical techniques. My favorite painting instructor in school was Joan Kimura and she was more of an abstract painter and wasn't too into the "masters" or their methods.

I want to start doing some exercises and learn more about the actual materials and mediums involved in painting. I seem to learn something new with each painting but that isn't enough anymore. I'm still going to use my pallet and content similar to what I do now, I just want to learn as something to add to my knowledge and respect for the medium.

Please let me know your favorite book on painting and why you find it so useful.

In other news, I watched the Wonder Boys movie again tonight. It's one I've seen over and over again and I never seem to get tired of it. I love the actors in it, the soundtrack, the dialogue, everything. I had a dream the other night that I got a novel published and it was a big seller. It had a cover like a V.C. Andrews novel and a really awful picture of me on the cover and I was so excited about it. When I woke up, I was so disappointed. That is another thing on my list that I haven't done yet. Well, maybe someday.

Replies: 1 Comment

on Monday, March 1st, Maggie said

I have a book that I use all of the time, it's not really about classical painting, it's more of a reference to keep on hand called

"Oil Painting Materials and Their Uses"

I'm not sure who the author is, but this isn't a huge book, you can take it to the studio or class with you and as I recall, it wasn't very expensive either. I don't know if it's as comprehensive as you would like but I've found it very useful.