Book reviews from DaveG70

Leon Franks On Techniques

by Leon Franks

One of the better of the sometimes quality-challenged booklets by Walter T. Foster. Franks visually explains colors, especially for metals (silver, pewter, brass) and flowers, brush techniques, edges, and more. It's far from exhaustive, but his ability to explain quickly and simply is an excellent refresher even for accomplished painters.

Paint With the Impressionists

by Jonathan Stephenson

Altogether, this is a valuable book for the intermediate painter. Stephenson presents good information on the nature of Impressionism, 19th C painting materials, and general working methods of Corot, Boudin, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley and Degas.This is followed by several session-by-session demonstrations of Stephenson paintings "using the methods of" a particular Impressionist. Subjects and handled in the manner of Manet (3 examples), Monet (7), Pissarro (1), Renoir (3), Sisley (1), Cezanne (2), Van Gogh (2), Degas (4), and Morisot (1). He doesn't indicate whether the methods detailed in each painting are based on expert opinion or his own study of representative paintings of each of the artists. My hunch it is the latter.The session descriptions are not deeply detailed, and a considerable range of the text records his reactions and thoughts about using a given technique, rather than exposition on a given painter's ways of working.The paintings themselves are unexceptional, but it would be off the point had he presented his own masterpieces. The idea is to illustrate a broad range of methods and techniques. You sometimes have to read between the lines or simply study the step-by-step illustrations to grasp important things, but that's not a bad thing in the long run.All in all, Stephenson adds much to the study of Impressionist styles. A nice side-note is that Stephenson offers very little overlapping or repetitive information vis-a-vis Anthea Callen's two books on Impressionist techniques. Taken together, Stephenson and Callen offer a tremendous amount of information for today's painters.