This is an oil painting of a Boston terrier I painted at the beginning of 2023. Also known as the “American Gentleman,” they have the largest eyes of any other dog breed. If that title isn’t funny enough, I recently discovered that Boston Terriers were originally bred to fight rats in garment factories. These dogs always crack me up so much, and to be able to paint them is even better. This painting is a Christian Ives original oil painting that is colorful and semi-abstract.
Top 5 Books on Making a Strong Painting
There are so many books out there on painting. My favorite painting books have always been the ones that explain the fundamentals of making a strong picture. Step-by-step books are great for someone who has never painted, but I don’t think those books really help the artist with the main issues of creating a strong painting (realistic or abstract). The books on this list have helped me understand what makes a visually strong painting without feeling stuck in a particular style or step-by-step method.
Andrew Loomis-Creative Illustration
While this book isn't strictly about painting, it does have a lot more information than any other book on constructing a strong composition. What I love most about this book is that Andrew Loomis writes in a way that is very strait forward, easy to understand, and is so accessable to whatever type of painter you are. It does a great job explaining how to set up a strong design, how to simplify your values, make your colors more harmonious, and how to draw attention to your main focal areas. I can't praise this book enough.
Andrew Loomis continues where he left off with “Creative Illustration” from above, but focuses more on specific painters between the 16th and early 20th centuries. His different chapters talk in great detail about unity, simplicity, design, proportion, color, rhythm, form, texture, values of light, the beauty of the subject, and technique. A lot of what you will find from Alla Prima (including Richard Schmid’s famous squinting technique), can be found here. He specifically talks about specific paintings from artists such as Goya, Titian, and Velazquez and how they used these methods to achieve their painting results. Unlike Harold Speed, Andrew Loomis takes a bit more time to make sure the viewer really understands these principles without rambling. While this book is currently out of print, it is free to download online since it is past it’s copywrite. I HIGHLY recommend this book.
3. Richard Schmid-Alla Prima II. Everything I Know About Painting - And More.
This is a beautifully written book. Richard Schmid (rest in peace) was an incredible Plein air painter. Not only does Richard really open up about the process of his paintings, but it also features incredible reproductions of Richard Schmid's paintings. The book is beautifully laid out and goes into great detail about what he focuses on in creating a painting. His color charts alone are worth doing. I felt comfortable before reading this book with mixing my own colors, but these color charts really did help me get a clearer understanding of the color combinations you can truly get. If you can afford this book ($120-$180 if you find a good deal), I highly recommend adding this to your bookshelf.
4. Harold Speed- Oil Painting Techniques and Materials.
I love this book! Harold goes into great detail analyzed a large range of artists from Titian to Joshua Reynolds and how they would have applied their paint. He divides his chapters into the different stages in creating a portrait, the various techniques premiere and Velasquez used in their paintings, practices for creating a strong composition, and many different analyses of paintings that he finds strong in the National Gallery in London.
5. Robert Henri- The Art Spirit.
This book was made from a collection of letters Robert Henri wrote to his students over his many years as an artist and a teacher. He covers many issues that his students had with their own paintings such as how to compose their portraits, layer their colors, and compose their pictures. Even though Henri was a realistic painter, his ideas focus more on being more expressive and talks about ways to loosen up. This is such a great book to help you feel more free and in control of your own paintings.
Grisaille Underpaintings: How and Why They Work
First of all, what is a Grisaille underpainting? It is actually very simple. Grisaille underpaintings are monochromatic underpaintings, usually done with Raw Umber and white, to create the tonal composition of your painting. The reason Raw Umber is used instead of Ivory Black is because it has less oil and dries very quickly (mixed with Gamsol, it can take less than a day before being dry to the touch).
So why would you use a grisaille instead of just directly painting? I use it to establish my lights and darks early in the painting. It is much easier to get your colors correct once you know where your lights and darks will be situated in the painting.
Once the picture is drawn in vine charcoal, I mix my 4 main tones (2 lights and 2 darks) for the painting with Raw Umber and Flake White Replacement. Both paints contain very little oil and will less likely crack with more layers of paint added later (fat over lean). The White Replacement does take a few extra days to dry, but I like to use it to create a little texture (especially when mixed with some Cold Wax).
The book that really got me into grisaille underpaintings was Solomon J. Solomon’s- The Practice of Oil Painting and Drawing. Grisaille underpaintings have been used for centuries from painters such as Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyke, and Velazquez just to name a few. I strongly recommend trying this technique if you want to create balanced tones in your paintings.
How to Start a Painting
When starting a painting, the biggest things that help me more than anything are making 2 studies: a noton and color study. This not only helps to make a strong foundation, but ironically also saves time since most of the problems are being solved before the painting even gets started. I do my studies each on an 8”x 10” canvace with acrylic paint on the notan, and oil on the color study.
Notans
Notans are incredible tools to help figure out the light and dark designs of a painting. They help figure out the design and composition of your picture on a smaller image before you get stuck on your actual painting. Most of the time, if a painting isn't coming together, the light and dark design isn't very interesting. If you can make a notan design you are happy with, you will almost certainly be happy with your paintings. They always say that values do all the work, and color gets all the credit.
To make a notan, I always use acrylic on an 8”x 10” canvas. The values of your picture that are lighter will be pure white, and the values that are darker will be pure black. If you are painting from life, the easiest way to tell what is in the light and what is in the dark is to close your left eye and squint hard with your right.
Remember, notans work great for realistic and abstract painting. In fact, some abstract artists use the idea of notans as their finished paintings (look at Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell).
Color Study
Once the notan is figured out, I use a separate 8”x 10” canvas to figure out the color design. Whether my colors are based on reality or made up, this is a great way to figure out the color design of the painting. The main thing I try to remember at this stage is that the values of the colors need to match the values of the notan design.
Bottom line, this HELPS the painting be more free and spontaneous
For anyone worried about losing the spontaneity of their painting by doing these studies, I strongly urge you to try it and see for yourself. One thing these studies have done in my own work is prevent me from overworking my painting as most of the problem solving is done way before the actual painting has even started.