Sunset over the Catskills by James Gurney, oil painting.If I want to excel in my craft and become any kind of decent realist painter, the two aspects of that I need to focus on are color and light. Perfecting the two, together, will allow me to paint anything I want.James Gurney is a plein air painter and the fantasy art author and illustrator of the book series, Dinotopia. His expertise with painting color and light is well known, and I’ve gleaned a few great tips from his book, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, to share with you.One important point is that overcast light is surprisingly ideal for painting because it reduces extreme contrasts of light and shadow. So when I look at a scene I can assess its true colors without any extreme contrasts of light and shade.
And looking for this kind of lighting is a reward because colors also appear sharper, which means I can use more high-octane colors on canvas.Local color, or the color of the surface of an object as it appears in white light, is key in almost every painting. The colors I mix will likely be to some degree made up of local color. Using that as a starting point, I can lighten or darken the color to model a form, add gray to create a sense of atmosphere, and bring in a different hue for reflected light.Millbrook Library by James Gurney, oil painting.Green (one of my favorite colors!) is one of the toughest colors (boo!) to make work in a painting, which is surprising given how commonplace it is in our natural world. Gurney’s tips for handling green include not using any greens from a tube, instead mixing them with several blues and yellows for weaker and more varied colors.He also recommends using pinks and reddish grays with greens to make the colors pop, and varying the green mixtures based on the scale of an object.I’ve got to tell you I’m a little bit in love with Gurney’s approaches! He is a whiz with so many painting techniques and gives straightforward instruction that has helped me really understand and flesh-out my own painting process.
For more from Gurney, check out, and, which feature Gurney’s insights and tutelage on all parts of the art-making process and with several media. I hope the exploration is as rewarding for you as it is for me.
PDF Download Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (James Gurney Art) Read Book.1.Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (James GurneyArt).COLOR AND LIGHT: A GUIDE FOR THE REALIST PAINTER (JAMES GURNEY ART).From New York Times best-selling author of the Dinotopiaseries, James Gurney, comes a carefully crafted and researchedstudy on color and light in paintings. This art instruction bookwill accompany the acclaimed Imaginative Realism: How toPaint What Doesn't Exist.James Gurney, New York Times best-selling author and artist of the Dinotopia series, followsImaginative Realism with his second art-instruction book, Colorand Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter.A researched study on two of art's most fundamental themes,Color and Light bridges the gap between abstract theory andpractical knowledge. Beginning with a survey ofunderappreciated masters who perfected the use of color andlight, the book examines how light reveals form, the propertiesof color and pigments, and the wide variety of atmosphericeffects. Gurney cuts though the confusing and contradictorydogma about color, testing it in the light of science andobservation.Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter(James Gurney Art).Click here to readmore or download free.Book DetailSeries: James Gurney Art (Book 2)Paperback: 224 pagesPublisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; 13642nd edition(November 30, 2010)Language: EnglishISBN-10: ISBN-13: 9712.Read more.James Gurney writes the best Instructional Books on painting color, creating pictures and thinking like anartist that are published anywhere. I have read LOTS of art books and of all of them Ii believe that onlyJames Gurney(and Andrew Loomis) are an entire art education wrapped up in easily understood beautifullyillustrated books. A year at an Art School can cost $50,000 stay in for 4 years and you are spending$200,000.All of the Gurney books (plus all of the Loomis books) will cost under $200.Moreover Iguarantee that you will not learn as much, or progress as fast in any school, or art program, in the country, asyou will if you faithfully read, memorize the concepts and techniques, and practice the lesson plans inGurney's(and Loomis's) books.I grew up in a time when Higher Art Education abandoned its heritage andembraced 'creativity' in the name of Abstract Expressionism(and various other isms). It betrayed youngpeople that wanted to be artists in a fundamental way.For a long time there was no good program inAmerican Art Schools that taught basic skills and forced young artists to learn to draw and paint before being'creative,'.I spent a lot of money looking and it was not out there.
Discovering Gurney(and Loomis)wasamazing and really went a long way toward fixing that.thanks for reading.
PDF Download Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (James Gurney Art) Read Book 1. Idmgcext crx 6 23 download mike. Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (James Gurney Art) 2. COLOR AND LIGHT: A GUIDE FOR THE REALIST PAINTER (JAMES GURNEY ART) 3.