Product Description

Up until now, a veil of mystery surrounded the techniques used to create great abstract paintings. ABSTRACT PAINTING TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGIES lifts that veil to reveal the exact methods behind the masterworks. Now students and professional artists can stop guessing and start building on the techniques of the great abstract artists to create their own innovative new work. Two clear, comprehensible sections let artists focus quickly on their specific areas of interest. The first section, on Traditional Painterly Abstraction (brush and easel painting) looks at pictorial space, brushwork, paint quality, and collage. The second section, on Post-Painterly Modern Abstraction (non-easel painting), considers options ranging from the pour-and-spatter techniques of Jackson Pollock to the staining, scraping, and abrading of modern acrylic artists. Step-by-step recipes for key approaches show every artist how to get the best aesthetic results, freeing them to move forward philosophically.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44444 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author
Vicky Perry has exhibited her work at numerous galleries and. Her work has won awards in several competitions. Barry Schwabsky, the noted art historian, critic, and poet, is the author of The Widening Circle: Consequences of Modernism in Contemporary Art. He lives in London and New York City.

Customer Reviews

Just about the best...
This is just about the best practical guide to creating abstract paintings in a contemporary context that I have come across. The book gives in depth insight into the work of several of the most interesting abstract painters working today. The artists shown are not lightweights - amongst them are some of the most highly regarded serious painters of today. It is well illustrated and manages to combine practical advice on the 'how to' aspects of painting with a good feel for some of the themes and issues in conemporary art. This book gives a very good flavour of what has happened in abstract painting since modernism. I recommend it without reservation.

Brilliant
This is a really good book for those new to painting abstracts - really thorough explanation of the various techniques, including lots of sample paintings with good description of how each is used. I would recommend this highly.

Recommended
I bought this book together with 'Painting Abstracts' by Rolina Van Vliet. I have found both books to be very useful both in terms of explaining concepts and in giving lots of illustrations which give inspiration and ideas about what looks good and what doesn't. As a beginner and not being a naturally talented artist I found that one really needs all the help one can get from books and instructional stuff from the web especially when it comes to understanding how the various media work e.g. oils, acrylics, watercolours etc. This book is certainly helpful for the beginner, it may not be so valuable for soneone who is already an experienced artist and is already sure of what they are doing.