The Landscape Painter's Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color

by Mitchell Albala

Overview

The Landscape Painter’s Workbook is the definitive hands-on guide to the time-honored techniques and essential elements of landscape painting.

Written by celebrated landscape artist, instructor, and author Mitchell Albala, this richly informative and beautifully illustrated volume leads you step by step through his approach to the genre, from establishing a composition using basic shapes to applying time-tested color strategies, with all-new lessons, practical exercises, and special topics, including:

• The Complete Color Strategy. What are the three aspects of color contrast that guide a painting’s strategy?
• Notan. Explore this special type of compositional study, which identifies the underlying shapes and patterns of a composition.
• Picture Formats. How does the picture format—horizontal, vertical, or square—affect the composition? What are the pros and cons of each?
• Color Grouping. A full chapter details this special practice, which helps maintain harmony by organizing colors into a limited number of groups.
• Composition. An in-depth review of variation, movement, and active negative space, with illustrations that diagram the action in each example.
• Workshop Exercises. Instead of demonstrations that show how the author paints, The Landscape Painter’s Workbook includes 10 skill-building workshop exercises to help you work through essential lessons on your own.

With examples of work by 45 contemporary landscape painters—more than 80 paintings in all—​in oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor, the lessons are suitable for all mediums. Each painting is thoroughly analyzed in terms of shape, composition, or color, with supporting diagrams, thumbnails, and photographs.

The Landscape Painter’s Workbook inspires and informs all artists, from aspiring to accomplished, on how to successfully portray the majesty and subtlety of the natural world.

The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780760371350
Publisher:	Rockport Publishers
Publication date:	01/25/2022
Series:	For Artists Series , #6
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	177,696
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Mitchell Albala, whose semi-abstract and atmospheric landscapes have been exhibited nationally, is the author of two books: The Landscape Painter’s Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color (Rockport Publishers) and Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice (Watson-Guptill), a leading title on the subject since it was published in 2009. In addition to leading plein air workshops in Italy, Albala is also a popular workshop instructor in the Pacific Northwest and has lectured on Impressionism and landscape painting at the Seattle Art Museum. He has written for International Artist and Artists & Illustrators magazines, and his work was profiled in the French Arts magazine Practique des Arts. His popular painting blog holds a top spot on feedspot.com’s “Top 80 Websites & Blogs for Painters.” His paintings, workshops, and blog can be found on his website mitchalbala.com. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Table of Contents

Introduction 8

1 Shape Interpretation 11

A Reductionist Approach to Shape 12

The Benefits of Simplification 14

The Role of Value in Shape Interpretation 19

Working with Value Zones 23

Balancing Simplified Shapes and Detail with the 80/20 Rule 25

Review Questions: Shape Interpretation 28

Exercise: Simplify and Differentiate with Limited Values 30

Exercise: Simplified Shape Painting 34

2 The Picture Window and its Format 39

Limited Focus and the Picture Window 40

Picture Formats and Directional Energy 43

Review Questions: Picture Window and Its Format 52

Exercise: One Subject, Different Formats 53

3 Composition in Action 57

Variation: The Cardinal Rule of Composition 58

Movement: Animating the Composition 63

Active Negative Space 70

Review Questions: Composition in Action 74

Exercise: Cut Paper: Aspects of Variation 76

Exercise: Mapping Pathways of Movement 78

4 Notan and the Compositional Study 83

Defining Notan 84

Building a Better Study: Notan Technique 91

Notan Apps 93

Review Questions: Notan and the Compositional Study 94

Exercise: Orienting to Notan 95

Exercise: Notan from Observation 98

5 Color Precepts, Color Paradoxes 101

Reconciling the Differences Between Pigments and Natural Light 102

Direct Observation vs. "Informed Modification" 104

Convincing Color, Believable Color 108

6 The Complete Color Strategy 111

Defining the Color Strategy 112

Contrast: The Animating Force of the Color Strategy 114

Aspect of Color Contrast: Hue Interactions 115

Aspect of Color Contrast: Value 121

Aspect of Color Contrast: Saturation 124

Review Questions: The Complete Color Strategy 130

Exercise: One Subject, Different Strategies 131

Exercise: Color- and Value-Priority, Side by Side 134

7 Color Grouping 137

Defining the Color Group 138

Color Grouping in Action 141

The Color Study: Testing Color Groups and the Strategy 144

Review Questions: Color Grouping 146

Exercise: Identifying Color Groups 147

8 Palette Strategies 153

The Limited Palette 154

The Targeted Palette 155

The Split Primary Palette 159

Two Roads to Neutrals 162

Parting Thoughts: The Never-Ending inquiry 164

Resources 166

Contributing Artists 168

Acknowledgments 170

About the Author 171

Index 173

Editorial Reviews

It encapsulates everything I want to get across to my students in my workshops…This book explains everything.”—Charlie Hunter, painter and host of Reasonably Fine Art Talk

“This rich and informative new guide is particularly strong on color and composition, offering detailed diagrams and simple strategies for getting the most out of your palette.” —Artists & Illustrators Magazine

“Mitchell’s new book is like opening a beautiful travel guide to exotic destinations—there’s so much to explore: shapes, composition, color, and more. The Landscape Painter’s Workbook will no doubt become my comfortably worn and dog-eared ‘road-atlas’ by my side as I explore the wondrous world of landscape painting.”—Carol Olson, host of The Artful Painter Podcast

"Helps artists, from beginners to experienced, apply the lessons and build their skills."—Artists Magazine

“Mitchell writes very well, so well in fact that this new book transcends genre, making it useful to all artists, not just landscape painters. I work in still life, yet am finding these exercises enormously helpful. Bravo!”—Margaret Davidson, author of Contemporary Drawing: Key Concepts and Techniques

“Has great focus and organization. It discusses topics in depth that are often glossed over, if mentioned at all.” —Steve Whitney, painter and instructor

"Mitchell has a lot of respect for his readers. It's not easy to explain what goes through one's mind when you're painting, but he puts into words some very complex ideas and says them so clearly.”—Sue Charles, painter

“I had thought you covered just about everything in your first book, but The Landscape Painter’s Workbook takes it to another level.”—Bill Hook, painter

“Your ability to dissect a painting and clearly describe its important qualities makes the book a valuable asset for any serious student, as well as experienced painters alike.”—Bill Vrscak, painter

From the Publisher