Finlay, Victoria. Color: A Natural History of the Palette. New York: Ballantine Books, 2003. Print.

Victoria Finlay brings the reader through every color family on the pallet, exploring everything, from how they were named, the material they are made out of, and what separates natural paints from manufactured ones. She shares stories from personal experience and takes the reader to all corners of the world. She writes nostalgically but with a level of detail that lets the reader feel as though they are traveling along with Finlay. 

Throughout the book, she explores both the history of the paints, but also the importance of the artist understanding the intricacies that each color holds both alone and mixed with others. She offers advice to artists who have canvas fear, (the fear of starting a painting in case you mess up, which you will whether you like it or not). Rather than a how-to book for mixing paints, she provides a personal approach to having a deeper understanding of the painting you are producing. 

This book has already challenged how I think about my paintings, and while I am painting in Italy, it can serve as a reminder about pushing my paintings one step further. It has also kickstarted my thinking about which paints I want to purchase in Orvieto and the added benefits that come with restricting my palette to the master pallet, or only natural colors.

Albala, Mitchell. Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice. Watson-Guptill Publications, 2009. 

Mitchell Albala uses his work to take the reader through every phase of a painting, from choosing your color palette and medium to value relationships and simplification and massing. He writes from the perspective of a teacher and is almost giving a step-by-step on creating paintings that are both “correct” so to speak, and unique, or abstract. He shares details as small as when to switch brushes when filling in the background, to the much broader topics such as the difference between painting Plein air and studio practice.

Throughout the book, he takes the reader through all of the individual components one needs to create a painting. Even though I earlier said it is like a step-by-step guide, it is hard to number the steps that go into the painting. It is more like he has given the reader all of the ingredients and secret tips to create the perfect cake; but leaves out that the reader should be using all of the ingredients at once, not going one step at a time.

I have in the past struggled with trying to use all of the components at once without merging them all and making it seem impossible, but by breaking them down he is helping me figure out how to most effectively set my painting up for success. He shares how each of the components can be done separately, but the importance of them all still working together to create a cohesive painting is one of the most challenging parts.

Gurney, James. Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter. Andrews McMeel, 2010. 

James Gurney, throughout this book, shares with the reader ball recipes for mixing colors, and step-by-step painting techniques,  but also explores the questions that painters continuously ask that are rarely shared widely.  He explores questions such as, “ how do colors change with distance?”  and, “ what makes a form look three-dimensional?” Gurney reflects on his experiences as a Plein Air painter and spreads his knowledge about paintings’ most fundamental tools, color, and light.

Throughout his book, he takes the reader through the history of traditions left painting, to the aspects that contribute to the painting, such as sources of light, elements of color, and atmospheric effects. Gurney also takes the reader through color relationships and identifies when to use warm or cool tones, and how light interacts with them. He uses his art as well as historic pieces to show the way in which artists can both make light work to their advantage, and ways they can position the light and shadow to have the desired effect on a painting.

Gurney, along with artists everywhere would agree that one of the most fundamental aspects of the painting is light in color, and to be able to have this book that so clearly lays out ways to achieve the desired effects on your paintings is a going forward my art, primarily because my art has dealt a lot with atmospheric effects and color relationships, but I  have struggled more in terms of those the sources of light and how it affects the form of my paintings

Art Juice, A podcast for artists, creatives, and art lovers. Abstracting the Landscape with Lewis Noble. Spotify, 2021. 

Louise Fletcher is joined by Lewis Noble as the two of them discuss topics from canvas fear, the role of collage in art, and abstracting his approach to an already “defined” subject of painting. He discusses his process of working both in nature and in his studio and how that contributes to his art. Their fluid conversation also brings listeners’ attention to the trickier parts, such as getting away from the horizon line and knowing when a painting is done. 

Throughout the podcast, he shares the experiences he has had that shaped his ability to be confident in his unique style of art. He offers words of encouragement to artists who struggle with wanting photorealism in their paintings while also pushing them to make their style of painting unique to them. He does not teach the listener how to abstract their art, but rather encourages them to not plan how they want to make it unique, and just let it happen along the way.

This podcast was one that I should have listened to when I first started painting. Nobel lets the listener in on the often hard to accept the truth that your painting is never going to look exactly like the reference photo you followed for the majority of the painting, but rather getting the painting to a point you are comfortable enough with the art, and then moving past the reference photo and making it something no one has seen yet.

Art Juice, A podcast for artists, creatives, and art lovers. What to Do When a Painting Goes Wrong. Spotify, 2021.

Louise Fletcher opens by discussing the feeling that you have ruined a painting and offers a different viewpoint. During her conversation, she digs into the stages of a painting, discusses whether we have ever actually ruined anything, pushes the listener away from the notion that they should ‘just cover it up,’ and the importance of intention as a guiding principle. She tells stories from her personal experiences with painting and becoming okay with the mistakes you make.

She shares how this recently happened to her after painting all night, and she shares how she moved forward, pushing the listener to have the mindset of not “salvaging” the painting, but embracing the new direction it is taking. She does this by not picturing the perfect finished project but by focusing on each brush stroke at the moment and letting her mind use her “mistakes” as a way to make the painting unique and letting them decide how the final piece would look. 

I am an artist that is always afraid of making one mistake, and it is hard to get out of the mindset that mistakes are bound to happen, and by “fixing” the mistakes or covering them but I can be learning both ways to prevent “mistakes” or rather just the parts I don’t think feel right, and creating a piece that had a longer process and altering certain sections until they feel done and taking it one brushstroke at a time, rather than the finished project