How is each book different? All three explore the “big three” topics of landscape painting — shape interpretation, composition, and color; but each book explores different topics within the big three, with different exercises, demonstrations, and analyses. Each book is self-contained, offering essential lessons for those new to landscape painting or for more experienced artists who seek new perspectives and strategies.
New Lessons in Landscape Painting is the final volume in the three-book series. Building on the success of the bestselling The Landscape Painter’s Workbook, the new book includes topics, step-by-step exercises, demonstrations not covered in either of the two previous books. All designed to build stronger skills in the core practices of landscape painting: shape interpretation, composition, and color.
- 8 step-by-step, practical exercises, plus “Key-Concept” primers that explain the theory behind key lessons
- 3 new simplification exercises in the chapter “Seeing the Forest Through the Trees”
- A full chapter on color dominance, a practical strategy for building color cohesion and mood
- Go beyond observational color with the powerful “Color Transposition” exercise.
- A special 8-page section on edges — one of the most powerful tools to control focus and depth
- A full chapter on color temperature — learn how it can enhance every type of color interaction.
- Learn the keys to abstraction in the chapter “Cultivating an Abstract Aesthetic.”
- A special section on the spatial properties of color, a rarely discussed topic that goes far beyond “cool colors recede and warm colors advance.”
- Explore the special kind of luminosity the nocturne is capable of, and the palette behind it.
- Dive deep into compositional variation with the “Variation Through Abstract Notan” and “Variation in Representational Notan” exercises.
- With over 100 paintings in oil, acrylic, pastel, gouache, and watercolor, by 54 contemporary painters.
New topics, new lessons, and 10 workshop exercises. Drills down more deeply into topics of shape interpretation, composition, and color. The best-selling book on landscape painting at Amazon since 2022, withnearly 50,000+ copies sold in just four years, and translated into six languages.
- 10 skill-building exercises that show you how to work through essential lessons on your own.
- A comprehensive introduction to the “complete” color strategy.
- Color grouping, a special practice that helps maintain harmony by organizing colors into a limited number of color families.
- A full chapter on contemporary notan, which positions it as a shape- and pattern-defining tool, rather than a value study.
- An in-depth review of compositional variation, movement, and active negative space.
- Horizontal, vertical, and square formats in depth: the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- Lessons are universal and therefore suitable for all oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor painters.
- 47 contemporary painters, over 80 paintings in all.
The “new classic” of landscape — a broad overview of landscape painting basics and techniques. A best-seller for over 16 years, with 70,000 copies in print. “Absolutely the finest book I’ve ever read on landscape painting! That list includes Edgar Payne, Andrew Loomis, and John Carlson. Yours is better than all of them” – Don Demers
- A full chapter on materials, from colors of the limited palette to easels, and brushes to mediums.
- A special chapter, “The Life of a Painting: from Start to Finish,” covers preparatory work, underpainting, and development.
- Step-by-step plein air and studio painting demonstrations.
- The indoor and outdoor studios, explores the similarities and differences between studio painting and plein air painting.
- A full chapter on site selection, the critical first step in composition.
- A comprehensive, step-by-step review of the monochromatic underpainting technique.
- A full chapter exploring color theory as it specifically relates to landscape painting.
- Full chapters on “Working with Photographs,” “Abstracting Nature,” and “Inspiration and Lifelong Learning.”
- 35 contemporary and classic oil paintings, over 65 paintings in all.
