Synopses & Reviews
JAMES VAN PATTEN teaches acrylic painting at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He has been a practicing artist for over 50 years and his acrylic paintings have been exhibited throughout the US and Europe. His paintings have been featured in several publications, including most recently,Exactitude: Hyperrealist Art Today (Thames & Hudson, 2009).
Synopsis
A complete course on acrylic painting for
beginners and experienced artists that covers classic approaches and new innovations
Embraced for versatility, quick-drying properties, and non-toxicity, no medium offers a wider range of effects forcreating highly expressive art than acrylics. With its flexibility and ease of use, acrylic paint is a must-try for painters--no matter your skill level.
Here noted artist and School of Visual Arts instructor James Van Patten draws from years of experience to show you how to use acrylics to achieve a variety of results--from watercolor-like transparency and the flatness of tempera and gouache to the buttery quality of oils. He presents an insider's look at the most up-to-date tools, materials, and techniques used by top painters in the medium to produce highly expressive art.
Van Patten offers guidance on materials, processes, balance, and composition, and focuses on effectively using color in painting. Replete with detailed step-by-step technical demonstrations and a catalog of inspiring works by notable past and contemporary artists, as well as the author himself and his students, The Acrylic Painter provides a complete, classic art instruction manual for painters of all abilities in one of today's most popular types of paint.
About the Author
A complete course on acrylic painting covering classic approaches and new innovations in this medium widely embraced by both beginners and experienced artists for its versatility, quick-drying properties, and non-toxicity. Noted artist and School of Visual Arts instructor James Van Patten shows how acrylics can provide all painters with a vast range of possibilities for producing highly expressive art. Readers will learn how to use acrylics to create a wide variety of effects--from watercolor-like transparency and the flatness of tempera and gouache, to the buttery quality of oil and collage adhesive and varnish--in everything from non-representational works to painterly realism to photorealism. Van Patten offers guidance on materials, processes, balance, and composition, and focuses on effectively using color in painting. Replete with detailed step-by-step technical demonstrations and a catalog of inspiring works by notable past and contemporary artists, as well as the author himself and his students, The Acrylic Painter provides a classic art instruction manual for painters of all abilities.